Tift County bombing suspect’s motives a mystery

TIFTON — Tift Regional Health Systems officials have released a statement both condemning the acts of a suspect accused of setting off two explosives devices in the parking lot of the hospital, one in 2015 and one on Aug. 27, and saying that the motives for the explosions remain a mystery.

“Tift Regional Health Systems would like to thank law enforcement for arresting and charging a person for allegedly planting a small destructive device on an unoccupied vehicle at Tift Regional Medical Center on Dec. 24, 2015 and Aug. 27, 2017,” the Tift Regional statement said. “The charges also link the suspect to two other similar cases within the area.”

Douglas Kennedy, 72, of 15 Red Tip Road in Tifton, was arrested last week and charged with four counts of manufacturing/possession of an explosive device, four counts of criminal damage to property, one count of aggravated assault, and two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

According to reports, no one was injured in any of the explosions, and hospital officials said, “In both incidents at TRMC, no bomb threats were made, there were no injuries and each case was considered minor. We still do not know the motive of the suspect, beyond just being possible random acts, and the matter is still under investigation.”

The Albany Herald reached out to Chris Efaw, Vice President of Outreach and Development at Tift Regional, to inquire if the vehicles that were targeted belonged to hospital employees.

“That is a good question,” Efaw said. “I will have to refer you to the GBI or the Tift County Sheriff’s Office to answer that. All I can say is that we are not sure what the suspect’s motives were.”

GBI officials were not available for comment Tuesday, and the Tift County Sheriff’s Office said it had nothing further to add to what had already been released by the GBI.

The two other incidents that Kennedy is charged in connection to were the detonation of a device against an occupied apartment’s door in Tifton on Aug. 25, 2016 and the bombing of a mailbox located at a Tift County residence on Aug. 27 of this year.

Asked if either of these incidents involved hospital employees or their homes, Efaw again referred all question to the GBI.

“Again, I will have to refer you to the GBI,” Efaw said. “As far as we know, these were random acts.”