The chemicals are in a contained area until exploded and then they are airborne with a potential for a huge concussion.
I sincerely believe the apartment has to be ignited from above where an aircraft can target it and forget saving the building.
The people will have to be moved out of the area for some distance. I doubt anyone can get close enough with a remote controlled robot to be a safe distance.
I don't know what the construction of the building is or if there are other chemicals stored in the basement or any gas lines. I really don't see the police attempting to be heroes, as is their instincts. It can be determined that all people are out of the building and the area.
The liquid chemicals are not known. How are they going to be contained? If airborne and are dangerous who knows what is going to happen. I can't believe this is even an issue. He set a trap to distract all authorities to a different emergency while he killed everyone he could find. He intended to get away, too and continue killing.
If he anticipated this explosion to be large enough to draw the police and emergency workers to its location so he could have an exclusive window of time in a multi-theater building, that apartment could be extremely dangerous to anyone responding to it. I don't know if any of it can be trusted. I don't know if anything he explains can be trusted. Put him on a lie detector.
Timed explosives from inside the apartment. So long as the bomb squad got into the window, timed explosives to ignite the chemicals can be put inside without turning the area into a war zone. I think the building is a loss, maybe the area. It is going to be interesting to realize a bomb squad can actually carry out disarming the disaster.
There is probably no getting information from the gunman because of lawyers protecting his rights. If the explosion has to go forward it is not the government carrying out an act of war against citizens, it is the authorities seeking to protect citizens. There is a huge difference. The gunman is the military man covered in body armor. Do National Guard have helicopter gunships?
Governor Jay Nixion (click title to entry - thank you) ordered the deployment of the ARMY for use in domestic applications. They also were sent with a Blackhawk and supplies. The 106th Assault Helicopter Battalion from Ft. Lenardwood, the 35th Combat Aviation Brigade, and the 1107th Theatre in Springfield will conduct missions within the U.S.
