CLEVELAND - The Cleveland office of the FBI announced Tuesday the arrests of five people who allegedly tried to blow up a bridge in northeast Ohio.
The FBI displayed a photo of the Route 82 bridge in Brecksville, just east of Riverview Road and referred to it as the "Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge" during a 10 a.m. news conference, and confirmed that was the target. The bridge crosses the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and connects Brecksville to Sagamore Hills.
According to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office, these five were arrested Monday evening and charged with conspiracy and attempted use of explosive material to damage physical property affecting interstate commerce:
- Douglas Wright, 26
- Brandon Baxter, 20
- Anthony Hayne, 35
- Connor Stevens, 20
- Joshua Stafford, 23
According to the FBI, the five thought they had purchased two improvised explosive devices with a C4 remote detonator. They suspects placed them at the base of the bridge Monday night. At 9:09 p.m., the FBI said the suspects tried to trigger the inert explosives with a remote access code and the bomb did not go off. The five were then arrested by agents who were monitoring the group via video.
The FBI said the bombs placed at the bridge were duds.
According to the FBI, Wright, Baxter and Hayne are self-proclaimed anarchists who formed into a small group and considered a series of evolving plots over several months.
The FBI said the public was never in danger from the explosive devices, as the transaction was handled by an undercover FBI employee.
"The safety of the citizens of the Northern District of Ohio is and continues to be our primary focus. The individuals charged in this plot were intent on using violence to press their ideological views," said Stephen Anthony, FBI Special Agent-in-Charge.
According to a spokeswoman from the Ohio Department of Transportation, 13,610 vehicles travel over the target bridge each day.
The National Park Service estimates 2.161 million visitors to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park each year.
The FBI said the group has been plotting to target various landmarks in the region. One involved the use of smoke grenades on the Veterans Memorial Bridge to distract law enforcement in order for the co-conspirators to topple financial institution signs atop high-rise buildings in downtown Cleveland.
The affidavit said the FBI learned two of the suspects in bomb plot thought doing some kind of attack during opening of new casino would make a good statement.
The court document also details a conversation an FBI source allegedly had with Baxter and Wright on March 28, discussing bridge targets. They said blowing up a bridge would cause a lot of financial damage.

Here is an excerpt of the document:
"They continued to discuss how taking out a bridge would lead to the government having to put security on every bridge in the country. The "Detroit" (Detroit Superior) bridge was identified as a potential target by Wright because it connects downtown Cleveland and Ohio City. The men talked about the defunct subway system on the bridge and possibly using the subway as a way of accessing parts of the bridge. Baxter and Wright stated they don't want people to think they are terrorists, so they would want to blow up the bridge at night or possibly pretend to be a construction crew and drop orange cones off at each end of the bridge to stop traffic before blowing up the bridge, thus limiting the number of casualties and the potential for killing possible supporters."
Another possible target of the group was blowing up the Federal Reserve Bank with C4 by driving a car into it. The affidavit said the group also talked about attacking the Fusion Center -- a government-run terror watch organization -- located in the Justice Center, but the suspects decided it would kill too many inmates.
According to the court filing, discussions with the FBI source said that on April 10, the group also talked about targeting cargo ships on May 1, the day of the 'fest."
"Ships are a 'd--n good target," Wright allegedly said during the meeting, adding that all of the cops would be downtown for May Day.
Baxter then allegedly said, "May 1st is going to be crazy." He then suggested getting masks to wear.
But on April 19, the focus turned to a bridge, as Wright allegedly told the FBI undercover agent there was a change in the plan. The group went to the bridge the next day to try to figure out the best place to put the explosives. They decided to place the IEDs toward the back of the bridge because the columns are out of the way and not in plain view.
On April 29, the FBI staffer picked up Wright, Baxter and Hayne near downtown Cleveland and went to pick up the explosives from the undercover FBI agent. The affidavit said Wright gave the agent $450 out of the agreed $900 in return for duffel bag containing vests, smoke
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