Saturday, September 25, 2004

Bomb Set Off At Lakeland McDonald's After Men Receive Bad Shake

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Two brothers serving in the military and a third man exploded a small bomb inside a McDonald's because they were angry over a bad milkshake, officials said. No one was hurt and damage to the restaurant was minor. Pedro Garza, 19; Joshua Hackey, 19; and Nathaniel Hackey, 21; were arrested Saturday on felony charges of making and discharging a destructive device. The older Hackey is in the Army and his brother is in the Coast Guard, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said. "One of the guys said they got a bad milkshake, and they played a prank on them," sheriff's Maj. Sammy Taylor said. Investigators say the men mixed toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil in a plastic soda bottle as they sat at a table Friday evening near the restaurant's restrooms. They then capped the bottle, put it on the table and left before it exploded at 10:45 p.m. Friday. A customer sitting 10 feet away wasn't hit by the splashing chemicals. "The toilet bowl cleaner has an acid base," Taylor said. "It can burn your skin and put your eyes out." The three were identified from a surveillance video, investigators said. Marla Baine, the Hackeys' older sister, said they did not think about the consequences of their action and now regret them. "It's a stupid prank, and they weren't thinking," she said. "I've had calls from them already, and they said they wish they could turn back the hands of time." Baine said her brothers are "two good kids," who had never been in trouble with the law. "Nathan said he's ready to face what's coming to him," she said. "Maybe they'll be made examples, and people won't do this type of thing."

(AP article from WFTV)

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