4 Arrested After Explosions at Mall

Police arrested four youths Thursday night after two separate explosions frightened shoppers and merchants at the Buenaventura Mall, but otherwise did little damage, authorities said.

The first explosion was reported about 4:45 p.m. near the east entrance to the mall.

“I thought somebody got shot,” said Doug Slay, who was sipping coffee near the entrance. Firefighters, police and bomb experts found the remnants of a plastic Gatorade bottle and the gray stains of what appeared to be gunpowder in front of the door.

After the mess was cleaned up and authorities left the scene, a second explosion in the same place sent skittish workers outside 2 1/2 hours later.

“It scared the hell out of me,” said Marla Velez, a clerk at Jaffe’s Camera, which was a few feet from the explosions. “All that glass and stuff that could have came down, I just don’t understand it.”

A security guard watched the youths pile into a car and flee after setting the second bomb, this time fashioned out of a two-liter soda bottle, police said. Roberto Moita gave chase in his mall truck and another security guard forced the youths’ car to a stop on the other side of the mall.

“They got stupid,” Ventura Police Sgt. Carl Handy said.

Ventura police would not release the youths’ names or ages late Thursday.