Man Charged In Pipe Bomb Incident

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Man Charged In Pipe Bomb Incident

Bond Set At $90,000

POSTED: 9:39 AM CDT August 6, 2004

UPDATED: 3:48 PM CDT August 7, 2004

CHICAGO -- A 42-year-old man was charged and held on $90,000 bond Saturday for allegedly leaving three pipe bombs inside his Southwest Side home in an apparent domestic dispute.

Yazid Mustafa, of 7742 S. Kenton Ave., was charged with a felony count of unlawful use of a weapon, police news affairs Officer Alice Casanova said.

Police arrested Mustafa Friday at a tire shop in Harvey, where he worked, Casanova said.

Police performed a search at the shop and found an explosive in a toolbox, which Mustafa allegedly said was his, she said. Casanova did not know the address where the shop is located.

A 10-inch pipe bomb containing one-fourth of an ounce of gunpowder and nails was found at the tire shop, a Cook County assistant state's attorney said during the bond hearing Saturday.

two "non-completed" pipe bombs also were found in the shop, he said.

Earlier on Friday, three pipe bombs were found in basement vents at the Kenton Avenue address at about 7:40 a.m., according to police news affairs Deputy Director Pat Camden, who went to the scene.

A man believed to be the woman's husband called in a bomb threat, Camden said, and the incident appeared to be a domestic issue between the husband and wife who were in the middle of a divorce. Casanova said Mustafa was the woman's husband.

It was not clear if the couple had currently both been living at the home, Camden said.

Bomb technicians from the police Bomb and Arson Section "disrupted" the devices, or rendered them safe, according to a section sergeant and Camden. No injuries were reported, Camden said.

The pipe bombs were packed with gunpowder and nails, Casanova said.

The police Bomb and Arson Section; Hostage, Barricade and Terrorist Team; Chicago Lawn District; and Wentworth Area all sent personnel to the scene, Camden said. The fire department also responded, he added.

Police units searched the home and "everything is back to normal," he said.

A still-alarm response was ordered for the bomb threat, sending two engines and two trucks to the scene, and an ambulance was put on standby, fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said. The alarm also sendt a battalion chief and about 28 firefighters.

There were no injuries, Langford said.

Sue Halverson had arrived on the 7700 block of South Kenton Avenue at about 11 a.m. to visit her 74-year-old father, who lived across the street from 7742, when she found that the entire block was taped off and multiple police units were present, she said in a telephone interview Friday afternoon.

She found her father at one end of the block, and he told her police had asked him to leave his home around 8 a.m., Halverson said. The woman and her father were allowed back in the residence at about 2:15 p.m., she said.

Halverson said she also saw police units search a car parked in the driveway at the Kenton Avenue residence, which she described as a brick bungalow.

The woman's father said he had heard police yell, "Fire in the hol!" before he heard a muffled explosion, she said.

Mustafa had a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 18 at 9 a.m. in South Felony Court, Casanova said.

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