(PCM) A 22-year-old Disneyland employee, Christian Barnes, has been arrested in connection with the detonation of a ice bomb in the park’s Toontown, Anaheim police said Wednesday. The dry ice pressure bomb exploded about 5:30 PM Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of several hundred people from the area for several hours.
“We take matters like this very seriously and are working closely with local authorities,” Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown said in a statement.
Barnes was an outdoor vending “cast member” and was booked on suspicion of possession of a destructive device and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
No one was injured in the trash can explosion, but the blast caused some chaos in a portion of Disneyland centered on younger children, and no significant damage occured to the park. Toontown is the area in which Mickey Mouse lives. He was also unharmed.
“Barnes is cooperating with investigators and has indicated this is an isolated incident with unanticipated impacts,” Anaheim police Sgt. Bob Dunn said,”these are very common, unfortunately, in our neighbourhoods.” After the arrest he said there appeared to be no connection with those other bombs.
The dry ice appeared to have been placed in a plastic bottle that was left in a trash can in Toontown. The explosion was confined to the can, according to the Anaheim Police Department.