Pipe Bombs Found Following Motel Blast

An explosion and fire gutted a motel room and police arrested the occupant after finding four pipe bombs.

Police said Saturday they found the pipe bombs in Kelly Sean Spencer’s room at the Red Carpet Motel and are investigating whether the Friday night blast was caused by another pipe bomb or chemical.

There is no indication that Spencer was connected to any militia or right-wing terrorist groups, said J. Dewey Webb, agent in charge of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms office in Oklahoma City.

The bombs - 16 pounds of explosives - were taped together and had not been detonated.

“It was a typical pipe bomb construction,” Webb said.

The content of the bombs and chemical mixtures found in the motel room will be analyzed.

“We’re presuming it’s an explosive mixture,” Webb said. “Obviously we had some very volatile chemicals in there. We had a very dangerous situation.”

Bee Bowker, the motel’s resident manager, said the 30-year-old Spencer was covered with soot when he ran out of the room following the 9:16 p.m. explosion.

“He runs out and says, ‘Call somebody. My air conditioner blew up,”’ Bowker said. “I said, ‘Get out of my way.’ I knew no air conditioner could do that.”

Spencer had been living at the motel in this Oklahoma City suburb since at least April 15, Bowker said.

“For the last two weeks my housekeeper hasn’t been able to get in to clean. He wouldn’t let her,” she said.

The explosion gutted Spencer’s room and caused a fire that damaged an adjacent room and part of a second-story landing.

Spencer was taken to the city jail after being treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

One police officer and several firefighters were taken to a hospital to be decontaminated. About 20 other people were treated at the scene because of the possibility of chemical exposure, said police spokesman Adrian Neal.