The outcome for Atkins and others could have been much worse. He had several half-baked plans for the three Delta Projectors he stole, which are normally used to x-ray objects underground and contain iridium-192. Close-contact exposure to the material for just one hour would cause extreme pain and disfigurement, and for 50 percent of the victims, death within a month, federal court records state. Injuries can also occur with far briefer exposures. Atkins had the potential to endanger hundreds of lives.
Up until the incident, Atkins had been a law-abiding, successful young man a model of someone who had grown up with disadvantages and overcome them. Court records describe how he grew up in Gallup, New Mexico, facing societal rejection because he was half-Native American and half-Black, and became extremely close to his siblings, especially an older sister who was the prime caretaker of the household.