Southeast : Suspect Held in Bombing Death at College

Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a suspect who allegedly was with a Norwalk man who officials say accidentally caused his own death when he detonated an explosive Friday night on a football field at Cerritos College.

Gary Wakehouse, 34, apparently did not get a safe distance from the homemade bomb before it exploded.

Another Norwalk man who allegedly was at the scene, Richard Pickett, 28, was being held without bail on charges of murder and possession of a bomb. Investigators hope to arrest another man who they say was at the scene.

Neighbors called Norwalk sheriff’s deputies after hearing an explosion shortly before 11 p.m. Friday at the college at 11110 Alondra Blvd. in Norwalk.

Sheriffs arrived to find Wakehouse lying on a sidewalk by the field and took him to Martin Luther King Jr. / Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he died soon afterward of injuries from the explosion.

All three men are believed to have helped construct bombs for kicks, said Detective Richard McClellan. He added that the men--all of whom have criminal records unrelated to explosives--might have exploded other bombs in the city over the past six months.