Just past 10:30 p.m. on Monday, according to the Aurora Police Department, officers joined members of the Aurora Fire Department in responding to a house fire at 1490 South Bahama Street. A warrant in Grover's name (see it below) notes that a fire had started in the abode's basement. Also inside the house: three people, plus fireworks, guns and ammunition.
After the blaze was extinguished, a police officer did a walk-through of the house and discovered a virtual arsenal's worth of gear -- "large amounts of firearms (long guns and handguns) along with ammo lying on the floor by the kitchen table," plus "potassium nitrate on the kitchen table as well" and "a box of fireworks along with loose fireworks" that had been placed in the driveway by firemen apparently uninterested in being caught in the middle of an impromptu patriotic display.
That would have been enough to raise concern. But before long, the document continues, Grover, 55, revealed that there were a couple of pipe bombs in a nearby shed; he later revealed that they were packed with black powder and used electrical caps as fuses.Shortly thereafter, four neighboring houses were evacuated while the Arapahoe County bomb squad got to work. But those two devices led to authorities finding more, and more, and more. Indeed, technicians were still going through the house looking for things that go boom today, around the same time Grover was making his initial court appearance.
The additional discoveries led to boosts in the bond placed on Grover. It started at $6,000 before reportedly being bumped up to $250,000. And as of today, the total is $1 million.
Why did Grover need so many lethal devices? In conversation with CBS4, neighbor Donn Daniels invoked the Mayan scenario. "He was convinced on December 21 we were going to be all finished," he said of Grover.
Not that Grover decided to disarm after the planet survived. In a separate interview with 9News, Daniels described him as "one of those doomsday guys." He added that he'd heard Grover pontificating about the government taking all his guns before imposing martial law.
If the guns aren't all gone by now, they soon should be -- so he was right about one thing, at least.
Continue to see a report from the scene, the warrantless affidavit and a larger version of Grover's mug shot. Here's the CBS4 report.
The affidavit:
More from our Calhoun: Wake-Up Call archive: "Mayan myths: PeaceJam on the ten worst doomsday predictions, and one surprise."
