LOUISA, VA., APRIL 17 -- Two homemade bombs exploded 45 minutes apart today, in and near this small town, critically injuring a woman in a restaurant parking lot and wounding a father and son at their home.
The blasts came four months after a pregnant woman was killed by a bomb explosion outside an apartment building in the same county. No arrests have been made in that case.
Police said that so far they do not believe today's blasts are connected to the Dec. 3 one. They would not provide any details on the bombs that were used, saying that releasing such information might harm their investigation.
Residents of the town of Louisa, a community of 1,000 people about 25 miles east of Charlottesville, said they were stunned by the back-to-back blasts and fearful of picking up any object.
"We've got some crazy person running around," said Robert Perkins, Louisa's volunteer fire chief. "It's kind of scary -- two in one day."
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The first bomb went off at 6:20 a.m. at the house of the Rev. Michael E. Thompson, 50, of Mineral, a town about 10 miles from Louisa. Police said Thompson and his son John, 22, apparently spotted a tackle box in their driveway. When they carried it inside the house, a bomb inside the box partially detonated. They were taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, where they were treated for minor burns and released.
"All he did was open the latch and it exploded," said John Thompson's mother, Joanne Thompson, in an interview with WWBT-TV of Richmond. "I was in the back bedroom when I heard a loud explosion. . . . I saw little fires all around the floor and gunpowder everywhere."
The second explosion occurred at 7:05 a.m. in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut in Louisa, wounding 21-year-old Sabrina J. Brewer in the abdomen. Police said Brewer saw the device on the ground and got out of her car to see what it was, at which point it exploded. She remained at the U-Va. Medical Center tonight, listed in critical condition.
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"She just saw the stuff in the parking lot and reached down to pick it up," said Perkins, one of the first to arrive at both bombing scenes. "The door was open, she was lying outside the car. Just an innocent victim."
Only a quarter-mile from the Pizza Hut is the apartment building where 24-year-old Tammy Lynn Baker was killed in December. Baker, who was seven months pregnant, lived in the building and was starting her car to drive to her job as a bookkeeper at a Charlottesville construction company. Police believe that Baker, like Brewer, saw an explosive device lying on the ground and that she may have tried to pick it up.
Today the shopping center parking lot across the street from the Pizza Hut became a sea of television trucks with satellite dishes. More than 100 officers and investigators from four agencies were on the case, including agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who investigated the 1995 federal building bombing in Oklahoma City and the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center in New York.
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Police urged residents not to pick up any suspicious objects lying on the ground. "We have no reason to believe that there are more explosive devices," said State Police Superintendent M. Wayne Huggins. "However, we are asking the citizens of Louisa County to be cautious and use good judgment before handling or picking up any object."
Some residents said they felt certain that the three bombings were connected. "I believe they are all related," said George Duncan, 67, owner of the Four Seasons Discount Center, where Baker used to stop in to buy items and tools. "I couldn't help but think of the Unabomber when I heard it." But John Nolan, a local magistrate, disagreed. "I'll be real surprised if there is a linkage," he said.
Capt. Kenny Harper, of the Louisa County sheriff's department, said the department had received many calls from concerned citizens but he did not detect widespread panic.
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Dave Watt, who works at a local radio station, WLSA-FM 105 Country, was on the air when the bombs went off and said calls poured in.
"Everyone was anxious for any news," Watt said. "People are now very suspicious of anything."
The ATF and the Virginia State Police each offered a reward of $5,000 for information leading to an arrest in connection with today's explosions. "I'm totally stunned," said Louisa resident Margaret Payne, 46. "It's basically a bedroom community, and things like this aren't supposed to happen here." CAPTION: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents and Virginia State Police investigate the site in Louisa where a woman was injured by a bomb. CAPTION: An agent and a dog search a restaurant parking lot in Louisa, Va.
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