RIVERTON, Utah -- A beauty queen and her friends are in trouble with the law after authorities say they made and threw explosive devices in Riverton.
Now, four 18 year-olds, including a Riverton pageant winner, are looking at potential felony charges.
The internet is chock full of videos showing explosives made with toilet bowl cleaner.
“We call them chemical reaction bombs,” said Captain Clint Mecham with Unified Fire Authority. “They’re a cocktail of reactive chemicals, that when they react with each other and when you put that large volume of gas in a closed container, it ruptures the container and creates an explosion.”
Late Friday night, cops found several water bottles with aluminum fragments and chemical residue at two homes near 13800 South and 4100 West. The suspects reportedly threw these homemade bombs onto driveways then sped off.
“All of us were surprised when we not only had one occurrence but up to 10 occurrences of this happening,” Mecham said. “They were actually throwing these at people with the intent to cause harm, with the intent to cause harm to either people or property: This goes well beyond a teenage prank.”
Luckily no one was hurt. A witness led police to the four suspects. Among them, Kendra Gill, Miss Riverton 2013. John Reagh, Shanna Smith and Bryce Stone were also taken into custody. The four have reportedly confessed to the incident, not citing a motive, but cops said they admitted to making the bombs with materials they bought at Wal-Mart.
“Even if it’s a prank, even if it’s for fun, these are very serious charges, very serious devices, this is not something you want to be involved in,” Mecham said.
Each suspect was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for setting off an incendiary device.
Since there were multiple explosives, they could face several felony charges. Ultimately, that will be up to the district attorney.
