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An 18 year old planted a bomb with a detenotion device at a gas station. He was quickly identified and arrested. During the patdown officers found a second bomb strapped to his body.

http://www.wapakdailynews.com/content/view/83750/1/

Bombs found in St. Marys (ohio)
Wednesday, 03 December 2008
By ANGELA WEAVER
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — A former Wapakoneta High School student is in custody after law enforcement officers Tuesday found two bombs in St. Marys he allegedly made.
Jesse B. McDermitt, 18, who faced criminal charges for bringing bomb-making materials to Wapakoneta High School in March 2006, left an incinerating device at the Marathon station on South Street in St. Marys. St. Marys Police officers discovered a second device strapped to his body when they took the St. Marys teen into custody.
St. Marys Police Chief Greg Foxhoven said Tuesday afternoon McDermitt is being held on unrelated charges and they are in the process of applying for a search warrant for McDermitt’s apartment.
McDermitt is currently being held at the Auglaize County Jail.
“He’s not going anywhere,” Foxhoven said during a news conference.
McDermitt was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in juvenile detention in 2006 when he was arrested for bringing homemade explosive devices, shotgun shells, a gas mask and knives to Wapakoneta High School, where he was a student.
At a 2006 court hearing, McDermitt admitted to bringing a number of homemade explosive devices to Wapakoneta High School, saying he was upset because he had been the subject of ridicule.
St. Marys Safety-Service Director Tom Hitchcock said police officials notified him of the situation, and he visited the scene at the Marathon.
“I was very proud of the way the city fire department and police department acted,” Hitchcock said. “I’m happy no one was hurt, and we have him in custody.”
McDermitt became an immediate suspect after reviewing the St. Marys Marathon station’s surveillance video.
“He walked up, set it down, made an attempt to cover his face and walked away,” Foxhoven said of the scene captured on the video in which McDermitt was wearing the same clothing he wore when he was taken into custody by the police. “He was wearing the same red coat when we went to his house.”
St. Marys Police officers responded to the gasoline station after receiving a telephone call at 9:12 a.m.
A customer at the Marathon picked up the black backpack and brought it inside, thinking someone left it by the pump on accident. When employees opened the bag looking for identification, they saw the device and notified authorities.
Police officers placed the device in the dumpster and contacted the St. Marys Fire Department and the Allen County Bomb Squad.
While firefighters waited for the bomb squad personnel to arrive, Foxhoven, police officers and an Auglaize County probation officer went to McDermitt’s residence at Townview Terrace Apartments on Greenville Road.
“While we were taking him into custody, during the patdown, we felt a bulge in his coat,” Foxhoven said, noting another device strapped to McDermitt’s body.
The officers were able to detach the device and take it to a dumpster, as well as evacuate the apartments adjacent to McDermitt’s apartment.
The device at Marathon was disabled at approximately noon and the device at the apartment disabled soon after that.
Authorities contacted St. Marys School Superintendent Mary Riepenhoff, who ordered Memorial High School and McBroom Junior High School, which are located across the street from the gasoline station, under lockdown.
“While the bomb squad was on its way, I went over to the school and met with Mary (Riepenhoff) and discussed the options they had,” St. Marys Fire Chief Ken Cline said.
“We knew the St. Marys Police Department was in contact with the Allen County Bomb Squad describing the devices,” he said, adding that they knew it was a detonation device from the information they received. “We felt it was safe to leave the kids at the high school.”
Riepenhoff ordered school officials to search the inside and outside of the building for other possible devices.
“We did not find anything that looked suspicious or out of the ordinary,” Riepenhoff said.
She initiated the lockdown through the lunch periods and lifted it at 1:20 p.m.
Foxhoven said the department has had recent dealings with McDermitt and were currently in the process of interrogating him.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Allen County Bomb Squad members and the Auglaize County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who were on the scene, also plan to interview McDermitt.
Foxhoven said the department is in the early stages of investigation and could not provide a motive at the time.
Cline said the city has had bomb threats but none like this in the past.
“We’ve had bottle bombs but nothing with a detonation device,” Cline said.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 03 December 2008 )