LAUREL, DE – Delaware State Police arrested Brandon Thompson, 20, for threatening individuals with a hand grenade early Tuesday morning at a Royal Farms store in Laurel.
Troopers responded at about 1:12 a.m. to reports of a suspicious man pacing in front of Royal Farms on Sussex Highway. Officers from the Laurel Police Department located Thompson at a business across the street and arrested him without incident. A search revealed a grenade and a knife in Thompson’s pockets.
The investigation disclosed that Thompson had earlier been at the Royal Farms with friends, during which an employee overheard him threatening to blow himself and a woman up. Concern grew when Thompson returned to the store later and paced in front with a suspicious object in his pocket. The woman was later identified as Thompson’s girlfriend, and further threats were made against his friends after he left the Royal Farms.
Delaware State Police Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team secured the grenade, which was found to be a modified training grenade resembling a pipe bomb.