Clearlake Police Sgt. Tim Hobbs offered a detailed report on Monday evening of police efforts to safely handle the explosive materials, which had led to the detonation of C4 on Sunday evening.
He said one arrest has resulted in the case so far. Victor Russell Kee, 62, who formerly owned the storage unit, was arrested Monday afternoon for felony reckless possession of explosives and booked into the Lake County Jail.
Hobbs explained that at 3:30 p.m. Sunday two concerned citizens came to the Clearlake Police Department and reported they had located a potential explosive device in a storage unit at Olympic Storage, located at 15187 Olympic Drive.
He said the two individuals who reported the explosives had purchased the storage unit at an auction on Saturday.
Officers responded to the storage unit and located the explosives, which appeared to be C4 and another unknown type of putty explosive, Hobbs said.
C4 – or composition 4 – is a powerful plastics explosive that is reportedly deadly even in small amounts.
Hobbs said Clearlake Police officers immediately closed off the area and began evacuating nearby residents of the Adagio apartment complex, which is directly to the west of the Olympic Storage. As a precautionary measure several ambulances and rescue units were staged in the area.
An incident command post consisting of Clearlake Police, Lake County Fire Protection District and Lake County Office of Emergency Services representative Willie Sapeta was established at the Bank of the West on Olympic Drive, Hobbs said.
A mutual aid request was made through the Office of Emergency Services and within a few hours two members of the Napa County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Unit were dispatched to the scene, he said.
While waiting for the bomb unit to arrive, Hobbs said the decision was made to increase the evacuation area to include all the apartments on the east end of the Adagio apartment complex and four residences on Polk Drive, which he said were to the south of Olympic Storage.
Once the bomb unit members arrived they evaluated the scene and determined the explosives were in fact approximately 2.5 pounds of C4 and more of another unknown type of putty explosive, Hobbs said.
Based on estimates of C4’s potency, that amount of the material could cause a significant explosion and kill several people.
Hobbs said the bomb squad determined the explosives needed to be moved to a safe location so they could be detonated.
Olympic Drive was temporarily shut down from Jefferson Avenue to Old Highway 53 – in front of Rite Aid – so that the explosives could be moved to a detonation site by a wireless remotely controlled robot, Hobbs said. Additional residences north of Olympic Drive near the path the robot was going to travel were also evacuated.
At approximately 9:30 p.m. Sunday the robot moved the explosives approximately 300 yards to a safe location where they were detonated, according to Hobbs.
He said during the investigation police discovered that Kee had formerly owned the storage unit.
On Monday officers contacted Kee at his residence in the 16000 block of Dam Road and interviewed him regarding the explosives. Hobbs said Kee admitted to owning the explosives and subsequently was arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail.
Kee’s bail was set at $100,000. He remained in custody overnight.
Additionally, during the investigation information was obtained that indicated the explosives were obtained from a known outlaw motorcycle gang, Hobbs said.
Hobbs said police still had the storage unit secured on Monday night.
He said a bomb unit with an explosive detection canine from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is scheduled to arrive Tuesday morning and check the storage unit for further explosives.
There are no indications there are more explosives inside the unit, however, in the interest of safety, the unit is being checked by a canine prior to a search by officers, Hobbs said.
Hobbs said the Clearlake Police Department greatly appreciated the assistance provided by the Lake County Fire Protection District and the Napa County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Unit.
He said all of the fire department members involved did an outstanding job and did not hesitate to help in any way that they could.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact Det. Tim Alvarado at 707-994-8251.
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