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SAN FRANCISCO, June 3 (UPI) -- A San Francisco political and PR consultant was arrested on an explosives charge hours after an apparent suicide note appeared on his Facebook page. The FBI had issued a nationwide alert for Ryan Chamberlain, but he was arrested Monday evening near the Golden Gate Bridge. A law enforcement official told the San Francisco Chronicle he was held on suspicion of violating federal laws on explosives.
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Morgan Manos, a driver for the online vehicle-hire company Uber, said Chamberlain asked him for help when he saw him using his cellphone to record the arrest.
"He looked pretty surprised and frantic. He was asking for help," Manos said.
Chamberlain was an expert on the use of social media and had worked on a number of political campaigns.
The FBI said a search of his apartment Saturday turned up explosives. He was described as "armed and dangerous."
Two messages appeared on Chamberlain's Facebook page, both posted using a program that delayed them. One said he had been suffering from long-term depression.
"So much was broken from this past year-and-a-half, and from moments way back before that," the letter written Saturday said. "I guess it was just insurmountable, and the time's up."
In the three-page letter, Chamberlain described personal problems and said he did not get the credit he deserved for helping to elect Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2009.
The other said that information in the news media about him was incorrect: "Nothing they're reporting is true. No 'stashes.' Not 'armed and dangerous.' No car 'rigged to explode.' "
The pursuit involved two San Francisco bars. Earlier Monday, Chamberlain's ATM card was used in a machine at Mad Dog in the Fog, leading to a search there, and his car was found just before 6:30 p.m. parked outside the Beach Hut Cafe.
Bob Brigham, who worked with Chamberlain on the Newsom campaign called him "one of the top two or three strategic minds in Bay Area politics."
