Police detonate suspected bomb

LAKELAND - Polk County officials suspect three young men are responsible for putting what appeared to be two bombs in a Lakeland parking garage.

Bomb squad technicians from Tampa were able to defuse one device and safely detonate another.

Surveillance footage from the City of Lakeland Parking Garage shows the men in question detonating an explosive device there Sunday afternoon, said Lakeland Police Department spokesman Jack Gillen. That incident has not been directly connected to the devices found on Monday, he said, but officials think the two incidents are related.

"I don't believe the device that is up there now is actually shown being left by them [in Sunday's surveillance video], but we do have a tape of the device detonated yesterday," Gillen said.

If officials determine that the three men are involved in the incident, they would face state and local charges at a minimum, he said.

The parking garage is located on Main Street and Massachusetts Avenue.