Utah Beauty Queen Arrested for Throwing Homemade Bombs at Houses
Authorities in Utah have arrested four teens, including a recently crowned beauty queen, and charged them with setting off an incendiary device after they allegedly tossed homemade bombs at local homes and residents.
Miss Riverton Kendra Gill was among the teens who reportedly confessed to constructing several chemical reaction bombs and throwing them from a car at various homes and people.
Investigators say the teens told them they were just "pranking," but Unified Fire Authority Capt. Clint Mecham told reporters their actions "goes well beyond a teenage prank."
Police records show the teens purchased the materials used to build the devices at a Salt Lake Valley Walmart. Those materials include plastic bottles, aluminum foil, and unnamed household chemicals.
"They're very caustic, very nasty. So they can cause injury to somebody just if the chemicals get on somebody, much less the fragmentation of the shrapnel damage that can be caused," Capt. Mecham said. "They can very easily cause serious harm or even death."
All four suspects have been booked into Salt Lake County Jail, but the district attorney has yet to determine whether to charge the teens with additional felonies.
Gill, 18, was picked to represent Riverton in the next Miss Utah pageant back in June, but that honor will likely go to one of her attendants following recent developments.
[H/T: Dangerous Minds, screengrab via KUTV, photo via South Valley Journal]