Utah beauty pageant winner Kendra MacKenzie Gill was arrested and charged Saturday with throwing homemade bombs from a car.
Gill, who recently took home the Miss Riverton (Utah) title, was arrested with three other people after allegedly throwing explosives made from
plastic bottles, aluminum foil, and chemicals at least nine times, The Associated Press said.
The beauty queen was booked on suspicion of 10 counts of detonating an incendiary device, according to the AP. The three others arrested were John Patrick Reagh, Shanna Marie Smith, and Bryce Christopher Stone.
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Although Stone apparently told police that throwing fireworks was a joke, a fire authority spokesman said the bombs were dangerous and
could have maimed or killed someone, KUTV News reported.
“They’re very caustic, very nasty,” said Unified Fire Authority Capt. Clint Meacham. “So they can cause injury to somebody just if the chemicals get on somebody, much less the fragmentation of the shrapnel damage that can be caused.”
The natural irony of the story caused John Shaffer from California to post on the KUTV story: “I can see a Dateline crew running over Nancy Grace to get to this story!”
Gill received a $2,000 scholarship when she won the beauty pageant, the AP said. Officials in charge of the Riverton pageant are expected to issue a statement about Gill this week.
Miss America Pageant contestants sign paperwork stating they haven’t been convicted of a crime, and their titles can be taken back if something like this happens.
A Utah pageant representative told The Associated Press that they hadn’t dealt with anything like this in the past and that she hoped it was a misunderstanding.
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