A pensioner found dead in his armchair was surrounded by canisters with biohazard levels as well as blueprints for weapons of mass destruction.
The 75-year-old man, named locally as John the Knish man, was discovered by police carrying out a welfare check on his home.
As well as the alarming canisters, officers discovered alarming drawings in the Brooklyn apartment, sparking a full investigation by New York Police Department's Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI.
Tests for radiation and chemicals came back negative although several of the sealed jars found by police are yet to be properly examined by scientists.
Officers in hazmat suits were seen entering and leaving the apartment block.
Delia, a worker at a nearby deli, said John made the chemicals in case someone broke into his home.
She told the New York Post : “It would perhaps stop them from going any further. I thought it was pretty silly.
“He said it was simple stuff, stuff you could find at gardening places.
“He said he liked talking about it because it let everyone around him [know], who might be trying to follow him home because he’s old and he likes giving out money sometimes, so they would know, it would deter them from going to his house.”
Another witness added: "“He always thought the CIA was going to kill him. He says ‘they’re out to kill me".
"I always thought it was folklore. He was a little mysterious. He said he did covert stuff for the military – he didn’t get into details.”
Another witness also claimed John was a Korean War hero who believed the “CIA was after him”.
The man is believed to have died around a week before the grisly discovery at his New York home.
The apartment building was not evacuated however as air quality tests by the Department of Environmental Protection showed there were no airborne chemicals.
