Prosecutors say a man plotted to blow up his entire condo building in Miami Beach to "kill all Jews" and now new video and photos are showing the man's actions in the minutes leading up to his arrest.
NBC 6 Investigators have the exclusive video and pictures of the thwarted plot on Collins Avenue where police say 72-year-old Walter Stolper planned to set his building on fire this summer. It’s a 17 story building with hundreds of units inside.
Stolper was captured on surveillance video pushing a shopping cart out of his unit on the 15th floor. The cart was covered with a towel. But once he was inside the elevator, another surveillance camera showed him lifting the towel to reveal gasoline containers underneath.
Miami Beach police searched Stolper's apartment and inside they found more gasoline and fans reportedly to be used to fuel the fire, officials said. In a rented storage locker, police discovered even more fuel, more than two dozen containers. In the unit, there was also potassium nitrate and sulfur.
Detectives also found barrels of fuel that were thrown down the building’s trash chute. Police say Stolper wanted to "kill all Jews" after getting an eviction notice. Inside his apartment, they found lots of Nazi memorabilia such as pins, plaques, mugs and Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf," including books about Nazis such as Eric Lichtblau's "The Nazis Next Door" and Laurence Rees' "The Nazis."
A building maintenance worker reported his concern to his boss. She then called 911.
"He stated that what he was going to do with the tanks is – he was going to blow up the building," the caller told a dispatcher.
Stolper remains behind bars in the Miami-Dade jail Monday. He’s facing first degree arson, premeditated murder and hate crime charges. Last month, a judge ordered a psychological evaluation of the suspect before moving forward with the case.
