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Home Front: WoT
Two improvised explosive devices go off at Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales
2018-01-22
[ABC] LAKE WALES, Fla. -- Two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) go off at Eagle Ridge Mall. Lake Wales fire crews responded to an alarm call at 451 Eagle Ridge Drive around 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

When fire crews arrived at the location, they saw smoke coming from a corridor located next to the mall entrance of JCPenney. The fire department located two pipe bomb type devices that ignited in the corridor of the building.

No one was injured in the explosions, but the celling and corridor wall did sustain damage. The mall was evacuated.

Police are looking for a person of interest that is describe as a middle aged white male, heavy build, wearing a grey shirt and grey hat. Anyone with information on this incident is urged to contact Lake Wales Police Detective Whitney Dukes at (863)678-4223 or Heartland Crime Stoppers at (800) 226-8477.
Update at 7:30 p.m. ET:
Initial reports claimed two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) went off at Eagle Ridge Mall on Sunday night, however, Lake Wales Police Department now says the devices were not IEDs or pipe bombs but rather flares disguised with electrical tape. Police have determined there were only two devices ignited in the service corridor where the incident occurred. Police believe the damage to the ceiling of the corridor was caused by the suspect, not an explosion.

Police have not determined the motive of the suspect(s) involved in the incident. They have released information on two persons of interest. The first person of interest is described as a white male, middle aged, heavy/stocky build, wearing a grey shirt and grey hat. The second person of interest is described as a male, believed to be white, 20 to 40 years of age, wearing a dark colored hat with a jacket and light colored shirt.
Posted by:Bright Pebbles

#9  Forget the middle aged chunky male. As a 12-year-old I did a similar experiment in the recesses of a nice hotel, where salt peter was sold in pharmacies and sugar was readily available. The resulting smoke-bomb kept me hunkered down in the room for the rest of the night.
Posted by: Fairbanks   2018-01-22 23:19  

#8  So be on the look out for a PCP (Polk County Person) aka Florida man! Armed with his USG approved marine flares! I'm surprised that no one has said more devices went off by the Sears entrance but no one has noticed them. Seriously the Eagle Lake Sears is something out of a retail nightmare.They would be happy to see somebody in the store even if it were a mad bomber. Most exciting thing to happen there since the sink hole opened up in the food court!
Posted by: Eohippus Slack5175   2018-01-22 16:46  

#7  Ain't it funny how countries with militarized secret police have lots more of this than USA has ever had? Story in there somewhere...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2018-01-22 10:28  

#6  #5 - I thought the Kevlar Poossy Hats were a bit much
Posted by: Frank G   2018-01-22 09:09  

#5  The recently released movie '12 Strong' is a great movie, but it depicts both male and female entitlement class actors who did not exist in the actual 'live fire exercise.'
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-01-22 07:26  

#4  Friday alone down 11.50%.
Posted by: 3dc   2018-01-22 07:22  

#3  Look at the recent massive drop in stock price of the nation's largest home security company. PC only kills biz.
Posted by: 3dc   2018-01-22 07:20  

#2  Huh, they left the racial description in the text. Thought that's against journalist practice. Go figure.

"Jouranlist practice" only applies to non-caucasian perpetrators. Ever see an entitlement class actor depicted as a home invader in a home security alarm advert on television ?
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-01-22 06:49  

#1  Huh, they left the racial description in the text. Thought that's against journalist practice. Go figure.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309   2018-01-22 05:51  

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