Tifton man faces charges in four explosions

TIFTON — A 72-year-old Tifton man has been arrested in connection with four explosions in Tifton, including two on Sunday.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a news release today that Douglas Kennedy, 72, of 15 Red Tip Road in Tifton, has been charged with four counts of manufacture/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.

Kennedy was booked into the Tift County Jail, GBI officials said.

The latest of the explosions occurred early Sunday when a destructive device exploded in an unoccupied auto parked in the employee parking lot at Tifton Regional Medical Center. No one was injured and moderate damage to the vehicle was reported.

On Tuesday, the Tifton Police Department called in the GBI Bomb Disposal Unit to help with the investigation. Kennedy was arrested after a joint investigation was conducted by the GBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Tift County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities say they have linked the Sunday explosion to another that same day and two others — one in 2o15 and a second in 2016:

— On Christmas Eve 2015, a destructive device detonated on the hood of an unoccupied vehicle that was also located in the Tift Regional parking lot;

— A device exploded on the door of an occupied apartment in Tifton on Aug. 25, 2016;

— A device detonated on Sunday inside a mailbox located at a residence in Tift County.

None of the incidents resulted in injuries, the GBI said.

The GBI said a search of Kennedy’s residence revealed a large amount of explosives and bomb-making material.

The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are expected, the GBI said. Anyone with information concerning the case is asked to call the GBI office in Sylvester at (229) 777-2080 or the Tift County Sheriff’s Office at (229) 388-6020.