Following the explosions of two more homemade devices in the McComb area last week, police now have a suspect in custody.
Officers allege that 18-year-old Kaylubglenn Leviticus Lemieux, 318 S. Sixth St., McComb, detonated an improvised explosive device outside the Dollar General south of Summit on Highway 51 Thursday. He also is charged with another IED blast at a nearby residence.
Police Detective Deska Varnado said officers arrested Lemieux without incident at his home Friday night and booked him on two counts of placing or planting a bomb or explosive weapon of mass destruction.
District Attorney Dee Bates said each charge carries a minimum five-year sentence and can carry a life sentence.
Authorities responded to the incident around 9:15 p.m. Thursday after a Dollar General clerk reported that a homemade explosive detonated near the store.
Detectives had no eye-witness description of the perpetrator, but the clerk told them that the store had surveillance cameras outside the building.
“After investigating and reviewing video footage, it was determined that it was him,” Varnado said Monday morning.
Police initially expected the surveillance cameras might have only captured the bomber’s vehicle, Detective Robert Holmes said Friday morning. However, the footage actually showed that the bomber was on foot.
The recording allegedly showed Lemieux walking through the bushes of a neighboring residence, detonating the IEDs on the north end of the store’s lot, then running back through the bushes, Varnado said.
Although no damages resulted from Thursday night’s incidents, it appeared to be a continuation of a trend of explosions that began on Sept. 7 when someone threw an IED from a car in front of the Pike County Little Theatre, alarming crowds inside watching a play.
Many at the time, including PCLT board member Ryan Temple, considered the incident “a malicious practical joke.”
Concerns grew the following days, however, when sheriff’s deputies responded to two separate explosions in Pike County that destroyed mailboxes, one of which was at the Pike County Baptist Association off Highway 98.
The IEDs allegedly used by Lemieux appear consistent with the ones used in each of the other cases, Varnado said. However, police have not connected him to the other incidents.
“(Lemieux) said he had no knowledge of them,” Varnado said. “At this point, the other explosive device cases are still being investigated.”
As of Monday, Lemieux remained in the Pike County jail on a $250,000 bond.
