TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma police are looking for a man who bombed a bail bonds business on Pacific Avenue. The bombing happened Monday evening.
The front door of Bad Boys Bail Bonds was shattered by the blast. The window is boarded up, and there are black scorch marks where the explosive was placed.
Tacoma police said people were inside the building when it happened.
One of them was a teenager who watched the suspect set the bomb and spoke exclusively with KIRO 7.
“I’m just sitting there watching, like, ‘What is this guy doing?’” Golden Baines said. “Then I see smoke going up and think he’s like, lighting a firework or something, or a paper. Then it just blew up.”
Baines is 13. His grandmother works at Bad Boys Bail Bonds. He has spent a lot of time there, but he saw something he will never forget Monday -- a bombing.
“Just a really loud boom,” Baines said. “And then the glass shattered.”
He was sitting just feet away.
“I felt it in my chest, from the shockwave,” Baines said.
Tacoma police said no one was injured, but KIRO 7 spoke to people who said they felt the blast from blocks away.
Derek Gordon said he felt the explosion from inside his apartment.
“It was like, boom,” Gordon said. “And the building literally shook. I was like, ‘What the heck is that?’”
He drove over to see what happened.
“I see all the police out there and the undercovers, I see the damage to the building,” Gordon said. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was amazing. This town is going upside down, man.”
Baines’ grandmother shared images with KIRO 7 of the man she believes to be responsible. He was wearing a red beanie and a dark t-shirt with stripes on the sleeve. He has not been caught.
“He just walked away,” Baines said.
“Everything that’s going on in this town, the shootings, the violence, something has to be done out here,” Gordon said. “Something has to be done. Now you’ve got people bombing the bail bondsman? It’s crazy.”
Tacoma police said they are eyeing potential felony charges for the case and are asking anyone with information to come forward.