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Ex-employee drives bomb-filled car into Portland club, driver dies

5/4/2026

27 6 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

An ex-employee drove a car loaded with propane tanks and pipe bombs into the Multnomah Athletic Club entrance at about 3 a.m., sparking a fire.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day said the incident appears isolated and is not linked to domestic terrorism.
Emergency crews found a dead man inside the burning vehicle.
Federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the scene.

History

Historical Context

On April 19 1995 Timothy McVeigh detonated a Ryder truck loaded with about 7,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, killing 168 at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City—a retaliation for the 1993 Waco siege and 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff. The attack spurred stricter ATF explosive-storage rules, which now frame Portland police chief Bob Day’s probe of an ex-employee’s propane-tank and pipe-bomb assault.

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Story summary

An ex-employee drove a car loaded with propane tanks and pipe bombs into the Multnomah Athletic Club entrance at about 3 a.m., sparking a fire.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day said the incident appears isolated and is not linked to domestic terrorism.
Emergency crews found a dead man inside the burning vehicle.
Federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the scene.

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