WALDO, FL — Detectives say it’s an act of local terrorism. An adult bookstore is cleaning up after a chemical attack by a homemade device that investigators are calling a “weapon of mass destruction.”
In Waldo, people have held prayer vigils and protests aimed at an adult bookstore along US 301, trying to keep the “Cafe Risque” from opening its doors on time.
Those efforts have all failed, so investigators say it looks like someone has turned to what they’re calling a clear act of terrorism to keep the store’s owner from opening up shop.
The device, discovered Sunday morning, was made of two gallon-size sports drink jugs connected by hoses. Someone set it on top of the store’s window air conditioning unit.
Detectives say that person then strung one hose from a water spigot on the outside of the building, and pushed another hose into the building through a gap above the air conditioner.
“That water hose would churn it up, mix it up in the gallon jug, and enter it into the building,” said Alachua County Sheriff’s Sergeant Keith Faulk. Investigators say one of the jugs had a harmful substance inside that flowed into the store along with the water.
“We haven’t identified what was actually in the bottle, in the system that delivered it into the building. We do know that it was caustic, it was corrosive, it had a high pH level,” Faulk said.
Investigators say the state Department of Environmental Protection will test the contraption in its labs Tuesday to figure out exactly what was inside.
Homemade — but mighty effective — the device had HAZMAT teams in full gear Sunday morning. By Monday, clean-up teams had stripped the room bare. Everything that was inside is now outside. The contaminated trash filled two dumpsters.
High above the dumpsters, a security camera is strapped to a pole. Investigators say it was rolling Saturday when the device was planted.
“We do have some very good leads. We have some people of interest that we’re looking at,” Faulk said.
Nobody was hurt by the chemical, but investigators say cleaning it up could cost more than $15,000. Add that to the HAZMAT bill of around $15,000, and you can see how costly the event has been.
The scale was small — only one room was ruined — but detectives say the punishment will be much more substantial.
Under state law, by the book, deputies say the device is a weapon of mass destruction.
“They’re looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, and… 30 years in jail,” Faulk said.
“You’re trying to hurt people. You’re trying to change their ideas or instill fear. And that’s exactly what the terrorists do. So this person is a local terrorist,” he said.