A Polk County man has been charged with 11 counts of Attempted First Degree Murder after he allegedly tried to blow up 11 individuals with improvised explosive devices. Those persons included nine detectives and deputies of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
The law enforcement officers had gone to Kevin Wade O’Neal’s residence at 129 Amber Way, Old Fort, with arrest warrants charging him with threatening to kill public officials and law enforcement personnel in Polk County.
When deputies and detectives arrived, they made contact with O’Neal, 54, inside the residence, according to a statement from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
After O’Neal was placed into custody, officers realized something was smoldering inside the bedroom where he had been located. Officers observed what they believed to be an improvised explosive device (IED) and immediately evacuated the residence.
Officers with the Chattanooga Police Department Bomb Squad and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were called to the scene.
The bomb squad and ATF agents, executing a search warrant, found 14 IEDs inside the residence. The Polk County detectives and ATF agents determined that O’Neal attempted to detonate the devices when Polk County officers first arrived and while they were attempting to arrest him.
Besides the attempted murder charges, O’Neal is charged with 14 counts of Prohibited Weapons and one count of Explosive Components.
The statement from the sheriff’s office said O’Neal is being held in the Polk County Jail with a bond yet to be set.