Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2001
Source: Dowagiac Daily News (MI)
Copyright: 2001 Dowagiac Daily News
Contact:  http://www.dowagiacnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1554
Author: John Eby
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?200 (Rainbow Farm Shooting)

ONLY CHICKEN COOP LEFT AS 10 BUILDINGS BURN

VANDALIA - There's nothing left at the end of the Rainbow but a chicken coop.

All 10 Rainbow Farm buildings burned to the ground during the five-day 
standoff at the 34-acre Newberg Township campground.

"I want to emphasize," said John E. Bell Jr., special agent in charge of 
the Detroit office, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), "all 10 of those 
buildings were burned as a result of actions taken by people there. Law 
enforcement started none of those fires. The only thing that's left is kind 
of a ratty old chicken coop. Thank goodness the chickens still have a roof 
over their heads."

The operation involved 65 to 70 FBI tactical and agent personnel brought in 
from Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Benton Harbor-St. Joseph and Detroit, Bell said.

Cass County Sheriff Joseph M. Underwood Jr. estimated his office provided 
30 to 45 officers, which "pretty much takes care of" his available manpower.

"We came in on Sunday. You shoot at a helicopter, that's a federal 
violation if you attempt to disable an aircraft. That is a crime over which 
the FBI has jurisdiction. When that occurred, we were notified by the 
sheriff's department and an agent from our Benton Harbor-St. Joe office 
came down and worked with the sheriff," Bell said.

Bell said federal investigators continue combing the campground because 
"it's very important to our investigation to know what went on here. We'd 
like to know if there was an accelerant used to start this fire. We want to 
know what went on in the house, what was in the house, what kind of weapons 
and explosives may have been in the house. It's important for us to find 
out exactly what went on here. Part of us being able to do that is with 
forensics. That's what we're doing today."

Bell said "given the nature of the fire" consuming everything, 
investigators did not expect to recover any narcotics.

Of weapons, Bell told a female reporter, "I know this morning we had a 
couple of long guns found. I know there's been a rifle found and a revolver 
found. Beyond that, I don't know. I guess it depends on what your 
description of what a 'big stash' of guns is. To some people, two or three 
would be a big stash. To others, it would take hundreds. I don't know that 
that's all that unusual, quite frankly. This is a rural area. I'm not from 
Cass, but I'm sure there's a lot of hunting around here."

Authorities recovered the two Ruger mini 14 semi-automatic assault rifles 
involved in the shootings.

"The one that was pointed at the FBI was definitely loaded. It was loaded 
to the gills," Bell said. "If they were pointing one of those guns at me, 
I'd consider them dangerous. The mere fact that they've got the weapons 
doesn't make them dangerous. What makes a dangerous situation is how they 
use them."

Aside from the fact that as a convicted felon Rainbow Farm campground owner 
Grover "Tom" Crosslin, 46, could not legally possess guns, Bell indicated 
only legal weapons had been recovered.

Bell refused to specify how many times Crosslin was shot.

"They found at least one pipe bomb that appeared to have gone off during 
the fire. It's very hard to tell" whether that constituted evidence that 
the property had been booby-trapped, "or if it was just something that had 
been lying around. There's no way of knowing now" due to fire damage.

"We've got FBI national laboratory people in there who are still doing some 
work, so we can't let you go right up in, but you're not going to have any 
problem. It's so close you'll be able to see what's going on. The areas you 
can't go into are roped off with yellow evidence tape."

"We're pretty much finishing up," Bell said. "The longest part of it right 
now will probably be to finish sifting debris in the house. I think we'll 
probably finish up on the hill (where an FBI agent shot Crosslin) today. 
I'm sure we'll be done by the close of business (Sept. 6). This is an FBI 
investigation. The Justice Department is not involved" except to the extent 
U.S. attorneys are needed to authorize search warrants.

"The shooting incident being investigated right now is the normal FBI 
shooting incident that occurs any time an agent fires a weapon. There's 
nothing unusual about that," Bell said.

When asked whether they were trying to determine if the use of deadly force 
was justified, Bell reiterated, "We want to find out everything that happened."

Information gathered will be presented to Cass County Prosecuting Attorney 
Scott Teter "because a death has occurred - just like it would be in any 
other instance - and the prosecutor will render a decision of whether it 
was justified or not."

Asked whether he has any sense why the situation escalated, Bell responded, 
"That's something I don't think I ought to comment on. That would be me 
trying to put myself in the minds of the other individuals, and I don't 
think that's appropriate."

When an FBI agent shoots someone, he surrenders his gun because its 
involvement converts it to evidence.

"We replace that with another weapon and he continues on duty, unlike some 
police departments who put them on some kind of administrative leave," Bell 
said. "We don't. We do grant the agent, if he wants to take some time off, 
we will allow him that, but we don't force him to go onto administrative 
leave."

The agent left the area with other tactical participants and is no longer 
working here, Bell said, declining to identify what bureau to which that 
person is assigned.

"Examination by the coroner determined that the individual had been hit 
more than once," Bell said, but "I don't want to get involved in the number 
of shooters and the number of times the person was hit until the 
investigation is finished."

Bell said laboratory and crime units which have been involved in processing 
the scene included the Michigan State Police crime lab, MSP fire marshal, 
MSP bomb dogs, a Grand Rapids accelerant dog, MSP cadaver dogs which were 
still checking for bodies early Wednesday morning, the FBI evidence 
response team "which will primarily be in the hole in the house itself, 
sifting the debris coming out for evidence" and the FBI national laboratory 
people who are going to be working the hill where the Crosslin 
confrontation took place."

Bell also thanked Newberg Township Fire Department for its assistance.

"That house was still hot last night and this morning, cooking. Before we 
can sift that material, they're being kind enough to come out and wet it 
down for us so we're not sifting coals. They're making sure there is no 
fire left in it so we can conduct the sifting operation," Bell said.

"Obviously, we can't answer anything related to the investigation and the 
actual shootings that took place," Bell said. "We anticipate giving you 
about an hour there with pretty much free rein except areas roped off with 
evidence tape to maintain the integrity of those crime scenes."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom