July 02--Gloucester and Massachusetts State Police are offering a reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of anyone involved with an explosion on Pleasant Street early Sunday morning.
At 4:02 a.m. Sunday, police responded to a report of broken glass at Mamie's Kitchen on the corner of Pleasant and Liberty Streets and found that an explosive device had blown up newspaper sales box on the sidewalk, sending debris through the window and damaging a door and a wall of the building as well.
Police and the State Police Bomb Squad are investigating, and were on the scene this afternoon.
Gloucester Chief of Detectives Lt. Kathy Auld said authorities haven't made anything out of a pile of mangled metal sitting in the police station. Police have also not yet been able to pinpoint what type of device caused the explosion -- except to say that the remains of the metal box indicates that it was more than a piece of fireworks.
With that in mind, city and state police posted a reward of up to $5,000 today for information leading to the conviction of whoever placed the explosive, Auld said.
She added that state police are now slated to take the debris for further examination.
"They'll take the pieces back to the lab, or at the minimum swabs back to the lab to be sure," Auld said.
We will update this story here at gloucestertimes.com as more information becomes available.
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Steven Fletcher may be contacted at 1-978-283-7000 x3455, or sfl[email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @stevengdt.
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