A Florida man was recently arrested after running away from a January 6 rally and police finding a pipe explosive device in his backpack.
According to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri on Friday, Garrett Smith was seen running away from a crowd gathered in support of Jeremy Brown, who is being called a “political prisoner”.
Around 7:30 p.m., Smith was arrested. In his backpack, the police found a pipe explosive device, a “Direct Action Checklist”, which lists what he wore, along with “gas mask and filters, pepper spray, smoke rockets and flammable rags”.
Smith’s helmet was also found with the “iron front” logo, which has been used by Antifa groups.
The area was cleared after the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad determined the explosive was active.
Officers obtained a search warrant for Smith’s residence and found another pipe-type explosive device along with “hand grenade type explosives”.
“Smith refused to give any information, he refused to talk to deputies, so we really have no idea as to what his political leanings are and whether he supported or opposed the protesters at the jail,” Gualtieri said.
“We also don’t know exactly what his plan was or why Smith was running away from the protest area when he was apprehended by deputies and before he had an opportunity to detonate the explosive device,” he added.
Gualtieri explained that people like Smith are concerning because of their lack of criminal history.”Smith has no criminal history, no social media accounts that we can find, and there’s no prior intelligence information about Smith. Smith is what we call a sleeper, and these are the most concerning individuals because there’s no opportunity to intervene and thwart their criminal activity until they actually act,” he said.
Smith was charged with three counts of possession or discharge of a destructive device and one count of loitering and prowling. He is being held on a $300,250 bond.
