An Alabama man was arrested in Marietta on Saturday after telling authorities he had a bomb, which was determined to be real but not fully assembled.
Cobb County 911 dispatchers got a call around 8:15 a.m. about a pickup truck parked near the East Gate shopping center on Lower Roswell Road that may have had some sort of explosive device in the back, officials said. Marietta police responded and spoke with the truck’s owner, 37-year-old Robert Devlin of Lincoln, Alabama.
Based on what Devlin told officers, they deemed the threat to be credible, immediately evacuated the area and took Devlin into custody, police said in a statement.
Cobb police’s bomb squad, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were called in to help investigate the threat.
By noon, a device resembling a pipe bomb was removed from the truck and secured by technicians, police said. A robot then carefully searched the rest of the vehicle for any additional devices. Once cleared, it was then impounded, and the area was reopened to the public by 3 p.m.
Several hours later, bomb technicians were able to open the device and determined that, while it did contain some explosive elements, it lacked other components necessary for it to be considered fully assembled. It also was later determined that Devlin was the 911 caller. Based on that information, the FBI and ATF declined to take over the case.
Investigators are still working to determine why Devlin traveled to Marietta and why he called 911 on himself.
He faces two misdemeanor charges of false report of a crime and destructive or hoax device, and a felony charge of false public alarm. He remains in the Cobb jail, where he is being held on a $60,000 bond.
Anyone with information is asked to call Marietta police detectives at 770-794-5345.
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