A San Benito County Sheriff’s captain said the suspect wanted in connection with a homemade bomb found in his Hollister apartment is Ansley Godoy, a 31-year-old.
As of 2:25 p.m., Capt. Eric Taylor said authorities were still searching the apartment complex on Nash Road about a block and a half from the San Benito High School campus.
Authorities found one explosive and detonated it in a field as Nash Road and Homestead Avenue. They thought there were possibly additional explosives in the home, but that was not the case.
Story continues below this video story from the scene.
“We X-ray’d them and they’re not explosive devices,” Taylor said. “Other than that, it’s all rendered safe.”
Taylor said Godoy is wanted for possession for sales of narcotics after the sheriff’s office arrested him last week during a traffic stop. Taylor said he may have been released on his own recognizance and authorities believe he might be in the Modesto area.
“He had a quantity of narcotics in there that would indicate he would be selling it,” Taylor said of the traffic stop and arrest.
That’s why the office got a search warrant for his home and showed up Friday, when they found an improvised explosive device in the home.
“We only found the one explosive device and that’s what was detonated. The other devices inside were found to not be explosives. They looked like explosives but they were not explosives.”
Taylor said neighbors were evacuated during the ordeal and they’ve been let back in.
There were some officers still on scene looking the area over shortly before 2:30 p.m., he said.
“They’re just doing one final sweep of the entire house just to be sure,” Taylor said.
Taylor said he would search for a photo of the suspect to release.
The local sheriff’s office had six deputies on scene who were joined by a Hollister police officer, a probation officer and four members of the Monterey County bomb squad, Taylor said.
With the Hollister Fire Department on hand, authorities detonated the one explosive found in a small field around 10:30 a.m. Friday.
The sheriff’s office declared Nash Road reopened at about 1:30 p.m. after a brief closure near the suspect’s home.
The sheriff’s office emphasized that San Benito High School was not in danger at anytime, although the edge of the campus was about a block and a half from the field at Nash and Homestead where authorities detonated the bomb, which let off a jolting noise in the neighborhood.
Photo caption: This is the field where authorities detonated a bomb Friday.
Below is a video report from the scene Friday.
