Police arrested a suspect Friday accused of allegedly throwing an explosive bottle bomb at a passing trolley in La Mesa earlier this week.
According to authorities, La Mesa police officers responded to a report of an explosive device at the Spring Street Trolley Station in La Mesa Tuesday night just before 8 p.m.
Police said a bottle bomb had struck a passing MTS trolley. Police located a 16-ounce plastic bottle near the scene filled with magnesium and water, which caused the device to explode due to a chemical reaction.
After reviewing surveillance video, investigators determined that someone threw the bottle from a vacant lot west of the trolley station. The bottle struck a moving trolley cart before hitting the ground, where it exploded a few minutes later.
Police said the trolley was not damaged and no one was injured.
On Friday, police confirmed they had detained 19-year-old suspect Darron Williams in connection with the explosive device incident.
La Mesa Police and MTS Security had been reviewing surveillance footage from the interior of the trolleys during the incident and discovered Williams on the tape, investigators said.
Williams was arrested just before 6 p.m. Friday and booked into San Diego County Jail on several charges, including possession of an explosive device with intent to destroy property and possession of an explosive device on a railway.
Sheriff’s deputies had briefly detained Williams on Wednesday after he was acting strangely at the Gillespie Field Trolley Station. Williams was interviewed by deputies and released since, at that time, he was not a suspect in the La Mesa trolley explosives incident.
Police said Williams is currently a transient.
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