The blast from explosive devices detonated at two Lowe’s home improvement stores
reached areas in the stores approximately 1,000 feet away.Both devices — both left on shelves in
the paint departments of Lowe’s stores in Salisbury and Asheboro — are being
examined by Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents this morning.
Evidence collected from the
“improvised explosive devices” will help investigators determine if the two
incidents are linked.
While no ATF agents have confirmed
a positive connection, the similarities are clear.
About 5:50 p.m. Wednesday, a
device exploded in the paint department of the Salisbury Lowe’s on Faith Road. Two
minutes later, 42 miles away, a device exploded in the paint department of the Asheboro
Lowe’s on East Dixie Drive.
In Salisbury, one shopper suffered
minor injuries. But an Asheboro shopper received second and third degree burns on her back
and head. She is still listed in good condition at the burn unit of the University of
North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill.
“The fire department
investigation is over,” Fire Chief Sam Brady said this morning. ATF agents are
handling interviews of employees and customers and the scenes of the crimes.
Don Bell, a spokesman for the U.S.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said agents will reconstruct the situation and
then offer and idea of how the device was made.
Salisbury’s Lowe’s
suffered “a considerable amount of water damage,” Brady said Thursday. The
store’s sprinkler system immediately stopped the fire, but left the store with
standing water.
Lowe’s was expected to open
today but a spokesperson said the store would open midday Saturday. Asheboro’s store
will repoen Monday.
More than 30 agents from the North
and South Carolina ATF bureau and Salisbury and Asheboro officials are working on the
investigation.
Anyone with information or tips
should call 1-888-ATF-BOMB (1-888-283-2662) or the local law enforcement agency. |
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