3 Used Explosives In Target, Wawa Stores Amid Philly Unrest: Feds

Philadelphia PA

23 April, 2021

4:19 PM

Description

PHILADELPHIA — Three men have been federally charged after authorities said they set off explosives in Philadelphia stores last year after the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr. Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said Cushmir McBride, 21, of Yeadon, Kamar Thompson, 34, of Philadelphia, and Nasser McFall, 22, of Claymont, Delaware, are charged by Indictment for their alleged involvement in four separate incidents in fall last year. The men are accused of using explosive devices to rob a Target and a Wawa, and attempts to rob two different Wawas. McBride and McFall were previously arrested and charged by a criminal complaint, and Thompson is in federal custody facing charges in a separate case involving the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. On Oct. 26, 2020, Philadelphia Police officers shot and killed Wallace in the Cobbs Creek section of Philadelphia. Peaceful protests began that evening and continued into the following days, accompanied by a period of civil unrest with widespread incidents of looting and violence in various neighborhoods in Philadelphia. The Indictment announced today alleges that on Oct. 28, 2020, McBride, Thompson and McFall conspired to break into a Target in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia and set off an explosive device in order to steal money from an ATM inside. Authorities said the men are also alleged to have broken into a Wawa on Oct. 29 on Richmond Street in Philadelphia, where they once again set off explosive devices in order to steal money from the ATM. The Indictment also alleges they set off explosive devices in two other Wawas, one in Philadelphia and one in Claymont, Delaware, in two separate attempts to rob these stores in the same manner. Finally, McFall is alleged to have set off an explosive device inside an ATM at a Wells Fargo bank in Philadelphia on Dec. 2, 2020. All three are charged with conspiracy to maliciously damage property used in interstate commerce by means of an explosive, and aiding and abetting, as well as four separate counts alleging maliciously damaging property used in interstate commerce by means of an explosive. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 80 years in prison.