Police ID Man Who Allegedly Claimed To Have Bombs Outside AEP Building

Police identified the man who claimed to have bombs with him outside the AEP Building downtown late Thursday night.

According to police, Munir Said Saleh was spotted outside the building, located at 1 Riverside Plaza, at about 11 p.m.

Police were called to the scene. When officers approached Saleh, 43, he allegedly threatened them and pulled out two bags, claiming they were bombs, 10TV’s Josh Poland reported.

“We thought they were dealing with three,” said Columbus fire Battalion Chief Doug Smith. “It ended up when we were doing a secondary search, we found a fourth one. But we did destroy them all and cleared them.”

A Taser was used to subdue Saleh, who was then taken into custody, police said.

Members of the Columbus bomb squad were called to examine the bags. A robot was used to inspect the contents inside and the bags were blown up by the squad, Poland reported.

Two additional packages were found near the entrance of the building.

Police blocked off nearby streets for about five yours while the bags were checked. No injuries were reported.

Saleh, a southwest Columbus resident, was charged with inducing panic with weapons of mass destruction and two counts of aggravated menacing.

Saleh, who also goes by Mike, previously was charged twice for carrying concealed weapons in 2009 and 1994, Poland reported.

Records also showed that Saleh violated a protection order in 2009.

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