MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade police located and arrested a 55-year-old man Thursday after they said he threw a lit firework into a northwest Miami-Dade food store on July 4; authorities said it exploded with a clerk and customers inside.
Police said just before 11:45 p.m., Nathaniel Williams hurled the firework through the front door of City Store 66, located at 6600 NW 22nd Ave. in the Gladeview area.
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The firework emitted smoke for a few seconds before exploding, police said. Police said the clerk evacuated the store and called 911.
No workers or customers were hurt, police said, but the blast damaged a tile, a refrigerator and food items.
According to an arrest report, the clerk told police that after reviewing surveillance video, he recognized the suspect as “Nene Williams,” a longtime customer at the store who “has always given him a hard time for an unknown reason.”
Police said they located Williams Thursday outside of another food store, less than a block south of City Store 66. They said he later confessed to the crime.
Williams was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional on a $10,500 bond on charges of arson, shooting or throwing a deadly missile and criminal mischief.
He was also being held on $2,500 bond on charges of possession of cocaine and suspected methamphetamine in a separate case.