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Man Accused Of Planting A Chemical Weapon In A Walmart Store
A man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly putting a chemical weapon inside a Walmart in Oxnard. The weapon in question was found in the Walmart store at 2701 Saviors Rd. on June 18 before noon. Police and firefighters evacuated the store for a total of six hours, an ordeal that apparently cost the retailer $120,000 in sales, KTLA reports.
About a month later, police identified 31-year-old Martin Reyes as a suspect using surveillance footage from the store, only to find that in the interim, he had been arrested on an unrelated charge and was already being held at Ventura County jail. Investigators interviewed him and said Reyes admitted that he researched how to make such a device online, crafted it and planted it in the store, and knew it was capable of harming others.
According to the Ventura County Star, the device was a container that had been filled with various chemicals. It was attached to an electrical cord, which had been plugged into an outlet. It had the potential to release a harmful gas that, according to the CDC, is "immediately dangerous to life or health considerations," KEYT reports.
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