Homemade explosives found in stolen vehicle following Virginia man's New Year's Day arrest
A Virginia man arrested on New Year's Day is facing multiple charges in connection with homemade explosives that were discovered in a suspected stolen vehicle, authorities said.
The Warren County Sheriff's Office reported Friday that the incident unfolded in the late-night hours of Jan. 1 when a caller alerted 911 to a suspicious dark-colored Honda that didn't have visible license plates and a driver who was wearing a ski mask and throwing items out of the car. Warren County is located about 70 miles west of Washington, D.C.
Deputies responded, but could not immediately locate the vehicle. However, they later found it and its suspected driver, 19-year-old Jordan Alexander Sweetman of Arlington, at a nearby 7-Eleven in the village of Linden, according to the sheriff's office.
Deputies determined the man did not have a driver's license, didn't own the vehicle in question and was showing signs of mental health issues, the sheriff's office said. The vehicle had damage consistent with having been stolen, officials said. Sweetman was brought to the hospital, and then once he was medically cleared, he was booked into the local jail.
The following day, investigators obtained a search warrant for the vehicle and found several homemade explosive devices inside, the sheriff's office said. They immediately stopped their search and called for backup from bomb experts, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Bond squad technicians removed the devices from the vehicle and detonated them in a nearby park, the sheriff's office reported.
Sweetman faces a felony count of manufacturing and possessing explosive devices, among other charges, authorities said. Online records show Sweetman is being held at RSW regional jail without bond.
Two other incidents happened on New Year's Day involving explosive materials. In New Orleans, 14 people died after Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S.-born citizen from Texas drove his truck in a deadly rampage on Bourbon Street. Jabbar had also placed two improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, along Bourbon Street, deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterintelligence division, Christopher Raia, said.
Federal investigators later found bomb-making materials while searching Jabbar's Texas home.
In Las Vegas, Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a 37-year-old active duty member of the Army Special Forces shot himself before his rented Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel. Gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars were found in the back of the vehicle after the explosion, which occurred about 15 seconds after the vehicle pulled in front of the building, Las Vegas authorities said.
Authorities have said there was no definitive link between the attacks in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas. The sheriff's office did not clarify whether federal authorities were investigating the Virginia incident.
