DETROIT – A driver is accused of parking his car full of explosives outside a Detroit gas station, lighting the inside on fire, and then coming back to light the outside on fire.
Jessie Tom Day, 57, of Detroit, pulled into the Speedway gas station in the 710 block of East Jefferson Avenue at 6:33 p.m. Monday, June 19, according to authorities.
There were “a large number of explosive materials” inside Day’s car, Wayne County prosecutors said.
Day is accused of setting the inside of his car on fire and fleeing the scene. He returned at 7:20 p.m. Monday and lit the outside of the car on fire, police said.
Day was taken into custody later that night by Detroit police.
“I cannot even begin to imagine how much loss of life and property that could have occurred,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. “We are very fortunate that the explosive materials found at the gas station did not explode. Detroit firefighters might still have been fighting this fire.”
He is charged with possessing or manufacturing an explosive device with intent and two counts of fourth-degree arson.
Day was arraigned Thursday evening at 36th District Court and given a $1 million bond. A bond redetermination hearing is scheduled for Monday, June 26.
