A potentially explosive situation at Fox & Hound apartments shut down the Kenny Road and Henderson Road intersection for most of yesterday as a swarm of city and federal officers rushed to investigate.

While running a routine apartment search after a fire at the apartment complex Monday night, Columbus Division of Fire officers discovered a cache of weapons, ammunition and chemicals in one apartment. After evacuating the residents of the building, 10 fire engines and more than a dozen police vehicles blockaded Henderson Road north of Kenny for approximately eight blocks, preventing residents from Fox & Hound and nearby apartment complexes from parking their vehicles.

Shane Helsel, 23, was arrested and charged yesterday with possession of a dangerous ordinance, a fifth degree misdemeanor. During the course of yesterday’s search, agents from the FBI, ATF and Columbus SWAT and bomb squads removed a shotgun, a hunting bow and several rifles from the apartment.

A federal Hazardous Materials team entered the apartment for the last time at approximately 7:20 p.m., after bomb squads had already removed chemicals including hydrogen peroxide, nitrous oxide, acetone peroxide and potassium cyanide within the apartment. Several of these chemicals are highly explosive when mixed, said Battalion Chief Mike Fultz.

“The profile is moving toward someone who knew what they were doing,” Fultz said, “This is beyond mere experimentation. The number of bomb-making chemicals that he has is in and of itself a considerable danger. However, each of these chemicals has a completely legitimate use.”

The suspect reportedly tried to transfer some of the more volatile chemicals to his pickup truck Monday night after realizing his apartment was in the path of the fire. The chemicals from the apartment and the truck are now in the possession of Proterra, a Columbus private company. Proterra is transporting the chemicals for analysis and destruction.

Although Helsel is in custody, authorities would not speculate on his intentions for the weapons and chemical stockpiles.

“We have contained the incident. Everything we were able to find appeared pretty well sealed,” Fultz said. “It didn’t look like anything was spilled or mixed. Those were the things we were worried about in terms of danger, because once you mix some of these, you get some really bad stuff.

“There was never a threat or anybody voicing any kind of negative intent, so we don’t have a weapons of mass destruction incident, which is one of the things we were looking for. We don’t have a package that looks like a terrorist,” Fultz said.

After the initial discovery of the chemicals, Columbus authorities contacted the FBI for consultation. With the ATF already on the scene, the FBI agreed to assist the investigation. Authorities kept the area clear for approximately seven hours while bomb squads, and later Hazardous Materials teams, suited up and entered the apartment.

“They were looking for explosives, but they also brought out other things such as weapons and ammunition.” Fultz said.

“It’s unsettling to think that someone was stockpiling things to possibly hurt other people,” said Ohio State student Inga Holton, a master’s student in business administration and a resident of Fox & Hound apartments, “It’s scary to think that they had all those chemicals in his apartment during the fire.”

Residents more than a block away from the suspect’s apartment could do little but watch the events as they waited for police and fire units to re-open Henderson Road, which they did at approximately 8:00 p.m.

“I understand that there are hazardous materials and everything. But if the stuff is so hazardous, how come it didn’t blow up the whole block already?” asked Stephanie Knight, a resident at nearby Governor’s Square, “I’ve been gone for two days, and I come back to this. I can’t even get my car out today and I have to go to work.”

The apartment fire began just after 5:00 p.m. Monday after the building was hit by lightning. Columbus Fire units will return to the scene tomorrow to continue the investigation with bomb squad units waiting in the wings if necessary.

“Nobody was hurt in this incident, which is the best thing that we want to report,” said Fultz, “It took a lot of time and effort on the part of a lot of people, but it has to be considered a success.”