Suspicious package detonated by bomb squad outside Muncie taxi office

Police in Muncie have arrested a Muncie man for making a “destructive device” that Delaware County’s bomb squad had to destroy on Thursday morning in the city’s downtown.

Madison and Jackson streets around PDQ Taxi were closed for hours as bomb squad technicians investigated what they say looked like two PVC pipe bombs in a box outside the company’s office.  It took four detonations to destroy the devices.  The first charge, set by robot, failed to go off.  Three more hand-set detonations were tried before an all-clear was given.

The Star Press captured one of those detonations:

The owner of PDQ Taxi tells an Indianapolis television station that a female employee brought the package to work, thinking it was a present.

Later on Thursday, police in Muncie arrested 33-year-old Lionel Mackey for several charges, including manufacturing a destructive device and intimidation. Bomb squad technicians sent a robot into Mackey’s Harvard Avenue home to make sure there were no more explosive devices.