Marietta Police on Monday provided some more information about a bomb threat Saturday that forced the evacuation of an East Cobb shopping center for several hours.
What they haven’t established yet is a reason why the owner of a pickup truck drove from his hometown in Alabama to a retail parking lot in Marietta and made the threat.
Robert Andrew Devlin, 37, of Lincoln, Ala., remains in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on a $60,000 bond for what police said were making false reports of a pipe bomb in a truck he drove to the parking lot at East Gate Shopping Center (1808 Lower Roswell Road).
An arrest warrant for Devlin said he’s charged with a felony count of making a false report of a crime and two misdemeanor counts of making a false alarm and having a hoax device.
The warrant states that Devlin drove from his hometown to the shopping center and shortly after 8 a.m. called 911, which dispatched officers to the scene.
Marietta Police said that based on information Devlin provided to them, “officers determined the threat to be credible and immediately began evacuating the area” around the shopping center.
Other law enforcement was called, including Cobb Police and its bomb squad. Devlin was interviewed by Marietta Police and was charged as that was going on.
“Around noon, a device resembling a pipe bomb was removed from the truck and secured by the CCPD bomb technicians. The rest of the vehicle was methodically searched via robot” and the area was reopened to the public around 3 p.m., police said Monday.
The FBI and ATF were also called to the scene, and it was determined that while the device “did contain some explosive elements, it lacked other components necessary for it to be considered a fully assembled explosive device.”
Marietta Police said they’re continuing to investigate and anyone with information is asked to call Det. Robert Bollinger at 770-794-5345.
Related:
- East Cobb Shopping Center evacuated due to bomb threat
- School bus driver arrested for entering student’s home
- Two men charged in armed robberies at NE Cobb gas stations
- Three men charged in home burglary off Paper Mill Road
- Student stabbed J.J. Daniell MS recovering at home
- Cobb approves facial recognition contract for police
- Suspect in murders of Cobb sheriff’s deputies gets life sentence
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