What to Know
- "The explosion caused a lot of damage to the machine," Philadelphia Police Inspector Scott Small said.
- No one was hurt despite the store being open at the time. 1 Woman was taken into custody.
- It's the 4th time this month that a device was set off inside a Kensington or Hunting Park business.
For the third time in a week and the fourth time this month, a blast targeted a Philadelphia neighborhood store. This time the explosion left an ATM inside a Kensington beer store mangled as a group of people looked to steal money.
A woman stuffed the homemade explosive into the ATM inside Kenny’s Place at Jasper Street and East Allegheny Avenue just after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Philadelphia police said.
Surveillance video inside the store shows a man walking into the store about 10 minutes earlier with a device in his back pocket and buying something as he speaks to the woman. The woman then takes the device out of his pocket, police said.
The woman later re-enters the store partially masked and clearly lights the fuse after stuffing the M-1000, similar to a quarter stick of dynamite, in the front slot of the ATM machine, police said. She then quickly leaves the store moments before the blast.
Officers on patrol nearby spotted heavy smoke coming from the store.
“They were told by store employees that someone had placed an explosive device in the ATM by the front door,” Police Inspector Scott Small said.
The motive appeared to be robbery. The force of the blast blew the front of the ATM off but it didn’t expose the safe containing the money, Small said.
Luckily no one was hurt.
BRAND NEW -> we have our first look at surveillance video showing the man & woman who set off an explosive device at store @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/ERQfqU0c91
— Pamela Osborne (@PamelaOsborne) June 21, 2018
“It easily could have been deadly,” Small said.
The woman who set the fuse didn't appear to re-enter the store, police said. But, surveillance video obtained by NBC10, shows at least two men, one with a shirt over his head, opening the store door and reaching toward the ATM moments after the explosion.
A worker at the store said he recognized the woman as a regular customer of the store. Tinikah Hogan, 34, was arrested early Thursday and charged with criminal conspriacy, arson, risking a catastrophe and related charges. She was held on $200,000 bail and it was unclear if she is represented by an attorney who could comment on her behalf.
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The blast came just four days after teens, so not adults like the beer store incident, were seen on surveillance video before a device was thrown into a Chinese restaurant at East Thayer and F streets, about half a mile away. The non-commercially-made explosive used in that case is similar to the one used Wednesday night.
Homemade explosives were also stuffed into ATMs on June 8 at Cinderella Cleaners at N 9th and Pike streets in Hunting Park and a few blocks away on the 3800 block of N 5th Street Tuesday, police said.
No cash was taken in any of the incidents.
Police are treating the incidents as isolated but not ruling out a possible connection.
ATF and the Philadelphia police bomb squad both investigated with the hope of tracking down the suspects, who could face felony charges.