Tyre slashing suspect blames radiation, his mother and braces

A 31-year-old man has admitted to slashing the tyres of nearly 50 vehicles in Boulder, including tyres on nine law-enforcement cars, claiming radiation from Rocky Flats, speeding police cruisers and being forced to wear braces on his teeth made him do it.

Alexander Kabelis of Boulder was taken into custody at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday after an employee at the Community Police Center on the Hill, 1310 College Ave., noticed the suspect crouching behind a Suburban parked outside.

Officer Bryan Parch investigated and noticed one of the Suburban's tyres was hissing loudly and deflating rapidly. In a series of interviews with Parch, Kabelis voiced frustration with his place in life and how slashing tyres helped relieve the frustration.


Photo from here.

He said he targeted the police Suburban, which was assigned to Parch, because he "was frustrated with the current state of his relationship to his mother and that he was also angry for having his driver's licence taken from him by law enforcement several years ago," according to Parch's police report.

Kabelis also told investigators that his desire to slash tyres may stem from "braces he was fitted with in the late 1990s at the behest of his orthodontist or dentist. He felt it was either that or the radiation poisoning he suffered as a result of his proximity to the Rocky Flats nuclear production facility located near Denver," the affidavit said.

Kabelis, who was wearing a white bandanna on his head and a black backpack on his back when arrested, was booked into jail on multiple charges of criminal mischief and carrying a concealed weapon. He is being held on $6,500 bail.