ORLANDO, Fla. _ A woman brought a child to a Tampa Walmart to help her collect items from store shelves and make a bomb, authorities said.
Emily Rae Stallard, 37, was about to light the wick, which she had fashioned from a shoelace and placed into her homemade device, according to an arrest report released Tuesday.
A security guard noticed and stopped her, helping to prevent a potential tragedy, Sheriff Chad Chronister said.
"This woman had all the supplies she needed to cause mass destruction at her disposal. Had it not been for an alert off-duty law enforcement officer and a watchful security staff at Walmart, she may have followed through with her plans to cause an explosion inside the store," Chronister said in a statement.
Stallard, of Tampa, made the bomb by filling a Mason jar with denatured alcohol and wire brad nails, deputies said.
The incident occurred Saturday evening at the store on Fletcher Avenue.
Deputies say Stallard spit on them as she was being put in the patrol car.
She was arrested Saturday and booked Sunday on $8,500 bond on charges of attempted arson of a structure, fire bombing, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, child abuse and battery on a law enforcement officer, Hillsborough jail records show. She remained jailed as of Tuesday morning, jail records indicate.
