Mentally unstable man arrested trying to enter base with wired propane tanks

A man was arrested trying to enter a Colorado Air Force base with propane tanks strapped to the roof of his minivan on Tuesday.

The man was found barricaded in his vehicle just north of the Peterson Air Force base northern gate.

According to El Paso County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jacqueline Kirby, there was no explosive material inside the van but the man was having a “mental health crisis.”

The incident occurred just a few weeks after a man detonated his own vehicle with propane tanks after breaching the main gate of a US Air Force Base in California.  The FBI ruled the incident, which killed the suicide bomber, was not an act of terrorism.

The man with propane tanks at Peterson AFB was arrested by the Sheriff’s SWAT team and an explosives unit at around 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Kirby said no charges were filed against him and he is receiving treatment.

After being turned away from the base, the man -who still has yet to be identified- drove to the Colorado Military Academy.  The propane tanks immediate drew attention and prompted, Amos Velasquez, the assistant principal and commandant at the Colorado Military Academy to talk the man.

Velasquez told the AP the man “was pretty erratic” and said he was trying to reach someone at NORAD.

The headquarters of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command were just inside the gate he previously barricaded himself in front of at Peterson AFB.

Velasquez said the sped away after he told him to leave the parking lot or he’d call the police.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Erica Picariello declined to comment on the man’s efforts to enter the base, referring all questions to local law enforcement.

“The Air Force said NORAD and Northern Command did not take any increased security measures because of the incident,” according to the AP.