Sacramento Police thought a car they spotted in a McDonald’s drive-through Monday night looked suspicious. It turned out to be shady enough to call in the bomb squad. By Tuesday morning, officials still aren’t saying what the mysterious “piece of military ordnance” they found really is — or whether it was ready to explode.
Firearms, narcotics and a bomb squad alert
Sacramento, California Police initially reported that the bomb squad was called out to a hotel in the vicinity of Discovery Park. Residents were alerted that roads in the immediate area had been blocked off while “police investigated and searched” the Executive Inn and Suites on Richards Boulevard.
All they were saying at first is that a “suspicious” item
was found in a car.
Once three people were in custody, some of the details started to emerge. A little after 8 p.m. on Monday, alert officers spotted a dubious vehicle at the McDonald’s. They watched it for a while and let the criminals have their meal, then pulled them over around 9 p.m. on Bannon Street near Bercut Drive.
Reports note that “the three occupants were associated with a nearby motel room.” Not only were they driving around in a stolen vehicle, they had some inappropriate hardware with them, probably to protect the drugs. One item looked a lot like a bomb.
On 3/15/21 at approx 8:15 p.m., SPD officers located an occupied stolen vehicle in the 200 block of Bannon Street. After the occupants were detained, officers developed information that they were associated with a nearby motel room. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/NLPC4sw1dY
— Sacramento Police (@SacPolice) March 16, 2021
Along with the “discovery of several firearms and a large amount of narcotics,” Sacramento PD also found “a piece of military ordnance.”
They aren’t saying what it is but it sounds a lot like a hand grenade. That would explain why the “bomb squad responded to determine whether the ordnance was live.”
Three are in custody
After they had things safely under control, the Sacramento Police reported that they had 36-year-old Pablo Arreola in custody along with his buddies 23-year-old Eric Torres and 49-year-old Robert Mondragon.
Citizens in the River District area, north of the downtown rail-yard, can rest easy. The police couldn’t wait to tweet off a photo of the weapons and cash they hauled away. They didn’t release photos of the alleged bomb though.
The three men are being held in custody at the Sacramento County main jail downtown and are ineligible for bail. Local outlets are reporting that “Torres was booked on eight felony counts, including one related to the stolen vehicle.”
More charges are likely to be added once the bomb squad issues their report on the device and it’s suitability for use.
This is a developing story which will be updated as more information becomes available, particularly if a statement comes in concerning the nature of the bomb and whether it was a viable explosive device.
