Soda bottle bombs cause scare in Hyannis

An 18-year-old Barnstable man, Andrew J. Spalt, was arrested by Barnstable Police on Tuesday evening after allegedly setting off a homemade explosive in a supermarket parking lot in Hyannis.

About 6:15 p.m., Barnstable Police officer Nicole Provitola, responding to a report of an explosive device, arrived at the Shaw's Supermarket parking lot on Route 132, Hyannis, and found pieces of a plastic soda bottle littering the lot. Provitola next discovered another soda bottle in the area.

Several witnesses reported seeint the explosion in the parking lot.

The area was then cordoned off as the Hyannis Fire Department tended to the unexploded bottle. It was then that Spalt approached police officers asking if they were there because of the soda bottles. After being questioned by the police, Spalt admitted to filling the bottles with chemicals and placing them in the parking lot. Spalt was then arrested and held on $2,500 bail for arraignment Wednesday morning. He is charged with causing an explosion and possession of explosives.

The Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad detonated the second bottle at the scene.

The Register