Report: ‘Imagine if I blew this place up,’ fake bomber said
A bomb threat at Camden Hunter’s Creek Apartments was a hoax, but deputies weren’t giggling April Fool’s Day when they released the suspect’s arrest report.
It wasn’t a laughing matter on Thursday either when tenant Raymond Velez, 63, brought a cardboard box to the leasing office at 4 p.m. and implied it was a bomb, the affidavit said.
Velez was arrested on a charge of possessing a hoax bomb. He brought the box to the leasing office of his complex at 4341 Summit Creek Blvd. at 4 p.m.
He allegedly walked to an employee’s open office door with the box and told a worker, “Tell your husband goodbye. We are going to heaven today,” the report said.
He then walked into the office, put the box on her desk and said, “Imagine if I blew this place up,” according to the report.
The employee then fled outside to tell a coworker about what happened and then returned, telling him to leave, according to the report. Velez then left the leasing office with the box.
“[The employee] was scared for her life, and truly believed the box Velez was carrying was an explosive device,” Deputy Renato Cunha wrote in the report.
Deputies then responded and cut off access to the complex, shutting down Town Loop Boulevard at John Young Parkway and surrounding Velez’s apartment building.
While on scene, a deputy spotted Velez attempting to leave his apartment and approach a vehicle.
That’s when the deputy caught Velez and put him in handcuffs, according to the affidavit.
The investigation contin- ued throughout the evening as deputies evacuated some residents and told others to stay indoors, the affidavit said. The closure of Town Loop Boulevard caused traffic backups.
The sheriff’s office bomb squad searched the area of explosives, according to the report, and the scene was cleared by about 10 p.m.
The sheriff ’s office did not address what kind of relationship Velez and the employee had, but the report said the employee “has had issues with Velez in the past.” The report also indicated the employee will be pursuing an injunction against him.
Velez does not have a prior criminal history in the state, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He has lived at Camden Hunter’s Creek since November 2015, according to a public records search.