Update: Arraignment Is Wednesday for Bottle-Bomb Suspect, 19

Updated at 12:05 p.m. July 7, 2012

A 19-year-old man “acting strangely” at a trolley station on the Fourth of July was arrested Friday in connection with the bottle-bomb throwing incident July 3 in La Mesa, authorities said.

Darron Williams, listed as a transient, was being held on $100,000 bail with arraignment set for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in El Cajon Superior Court, according to court records.

Williams had been contacted Wednesday by sheriff’s deputies after a report of a “male acting strangely at the Gillespie Field Trolley Station,” said La Mesa police Lt. Matt Nicholass. 

“The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department assisted MTS Security in locating Darron Williams, who had left the trolley platform by the time deputies arrived,” Nicholass said.  “Williams was interviewed and identified by deputies and later released.”

At that time, Williams was not a suspect in the incident at the Spring Street Trolley Station, he said.

A little before 9 p.m. Tuesday, La Mesa police had responded to a report of a bottle bomb that exploded at trolley station at 4250 Spring St.

Responding officers found a deformed 16-ounce plastic bottle on the trolley platform, police said.  Investigators later determined the bottle had been filled with magnesium and water, causing an explosive chemical reaction. 

“After reviewing the surveillance video provided by the Metropolitan Transit System, it appeared someone had thrown the bottle from a westbound trolley near the Spring Street Trolley Station.  The bottle fell to the ground,” police said.  “A few minutes later, the bottle exploded.  There were no injuries from the explosion and the trolley was not damaged.” 

But as part of the investigation into the La Mesa incident by La Mesa Police and trolley security, MTS  reviewed surveillance footage from the interior of the trolleys at the time of the La Mesa incident, police said. 

Williams was seen on the surveillance video and linked to the crime in La Mesa, Nicholass said Friday.

La Mesa police detectives found Williams in El Cajon, and at 5:49 p.m. Friday arrested him. He was booked into County Jail on charges including possession of explosive device with intent to destroy property and carrying a concealed explosive device on a railway.