Ethan Guillen: Albuquerque Teen Put Pressure Cooker Bomb Under Ex-Girlfriend’s Bed, New Mexico Police Say

Albuquerque, New Mexico teen Ethan Guillen allegedly made a pressure cooker bomb and placed it under his ex-girlfriend’s bed while she was off attending her high school graduation.

Ethan Guillen, 18, is now facing federal charges over the homemade pressure cooker bomb allegedly rigged to detonate remotely and kill his ex-girlfriend.

The pressure cooker bomb placed under his ex-girlfriend’s bed failed to detonate as planned and went undiscovered for several weeks until the intended victim discovered it under her bed, KOAT News reports. Once the young woman found the explosive device, the Albuquerque police were alerted and the bomb squad was called in to investigate.

The New Mexico teen charged with crafting the homemade bomb mixed “energizable material,” bolts, nuts, a fuse, and a plastic bag containing some type of rubber material, and put it all inside the pressure cooker, according to court documents. The pressure cooker bomb also boasted a fireworks style fuse wrapped around the top of a soldering iron. The iron was attached to a common appliance timer that was plugged into the wall near the teenage girl’s bed.

After making the bomb, Ethan Guillen allegedly broke into the apartment where his ex-girlfriend, identified only as “MC” in court documents, and her family lived on May 18. The teenager allegedly set the pressure cooker bomb to detonate during the early morning hours the following day.

New Mexico teen charged with planting pressure cooker bomb under ex’s bed. He may get 10 years. She was unhurt.
https://t.co/hUPt9ayIdc

— Pat Sanchez (@patlks5757) June 2, 2017

MC told Albuquerque law enforcement investigators she felt her ex-boyfriend might have been behind the homemade pressure cooker bomb.

Residents at the West Park were terrified when the New Mexico bomb squad arrived on the scene during the very early morning hours in May. Law enforcement officers told the residents who were at home at the time to stay inside their apartments and urged all others to stay away from the building until an all-clear was given.

“Last night the units were actually on lock-down starting around three o’clock,” Beca Man, a West Park resident, said. “They had everything shut down. They said there was a suspicious package in one of the apartments in building five.”

Man said he was especially concerned about the safety of his family because he was still at work when his wife, who was at home with the children, called to tell him about the police presence at the apartment complex.

New Mexico police investigators said Ethan Guillen initially denied making the pressure cooker bomb found under his ex-girlfriend’s bed. Police quickly learned a pressure cooker recently purchased by Guillen’s father had come up missing, upon visiting the home.

When the detectives searched his home they found latex gloves, duct tape which matched tape found on the homemade bomb, and large burn marks found on a table in the Albuquerque teenager’s back yard.

The intended victim of the homemade bomb also told law enforcement detectives Ethan Guillen had harassed her at school. According to a report by KRQE, MC had not had any contact with Guillen since Christmas when he left a note taped to her window.

During additional questioning by the police, Guillen reportedly confessed to making the bomb and putting it inside MC’s apartment. The teenager said he set the timer so the pressure cooker bomb would explode at 1:30 a.m. and then stayed up to listen to a police scanner “waiting for an explosion.”

There were small children and a baby in the same apartment as Ethan Guillen’s ex-girlfriend. The Albuquerque teenager reportedly told police investigators he did not care about the youngsters sleeping in the adjacent bedroom because he wanted MC dead.

Ethan Guillen has been charged with possessing an “unregistered destructive device.” If convicted of the federal charges levied against him, the New Mexico teenager could face up to a decade in prison.

[Featured Image Santhosh Varghese/Shutterstock]