Region

Long Beach police arrested a Bellflower truck driver in the attempt to set off a bomb near a controversial church in the coastal city. Part of the bomb exploded before a Los Angeles County sheriff’s bomb squad detonated the remainder, which included eight sticks of industrial dynamite. Police said Thomas McCoy, 26, had been distraught about his sister’s involvement with the Morningland Church of Ascended Christ, whose leaders have been accused in the past of practicing “mind control.” The arrest was made after church members spotted his car near the church. “He had another destructive device with him when he was arrested and he was going back to the church,” Detective Sgt. Soren Poulsen said. Police also found a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun in McCoy’s car, he said. McCoy was booked on suspicion of possession of a destructive device, igniting a destructive device and carrying a concealed weapon, a .45-caliber handgun.