Apopka police officers find grenades in shooting suspect's belongings
Apopka police officers said suspect had grenades
A "shots-fired" investigation Tuesday night in Apopka quickly escalated after officers made a disturbing discovery. According to Apopka Police, 37-year-old William Love Miller fired a shot at the entrance of the Dollar Tree located on West Orange Blossom Trail. The bullet, police say, passed through the glass, just a few inches away from a nearby employee.
APOPKA, Fla. - A "shots-fired" investigation Tuesday night in Apopka quickly escalated after officers made a disturbing discovery.
According to Apopka Police, 37-year-old William Love Miller fired a shot at the entrance of the Dollar Tree located on West Orange Blossom Trail. The bullet, police say, passed through the glass, just a few inches away from a nearby employee.
According to the workers inside, Miller was upset that the store had closed for the day. They recognized him as a transient who frequented the store.
Officers eventually found Miller near railroad tracks not too far from the store, where they had to chase and tase him. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and was carrying two knives, two bullets, and brass knuckles.
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While walking him back near his encampment, police say Miller warned them not to touch his shopping cart because "it's wired" and believed to have been rigged with explosives.
Apopka Police called the Hazard Disposal Team (HDT) from the Orange County Sheriff's Office, who discovered inside Miller's cart three hollowed grenades with gunpowder and fuses inserted in them.
"It's definitely a real crude way of making an explosive," Edwin Rivera, owner of Smokin Gunz Customs in Winter Springs, said Friday.
He believes, if activated, the grenades could've done a lot of damage, especially in a big crowd.
"If it was thrown in a crowd of people and they were unsuspecting, everybody in probably about a 10-meter radius would probably feel the effects of it," Rivera said. "I do suspect that it would probably cause some type of fatalities."
Miller's arrest report says the Hazard Disposal Team was able to render the grenades found in his shopping cart safe and clear the shopping cart of any further explosives.
He's now facing multiple charges, including attempted murder, and remained in the Orange County jail as of Friday night.