Utah beauty queen arrested for throwing bombs from car

Clint Mecham first saw newspaper photos of 18-year-old Utah beauty queen Kendra McKenzie Gill when she was crowned Miss Riverton and then later when she rode in the town's Fourth of July parade.

He didn't think he'd ever see a photo of her as a mug shot. But Gill was arrested last weekend and charged with assembling homemade bombs and throwing them from a car, many of them at people.

"This is one of those bizarre cases when you say to yourself, 'Of all people'," said Mecham, a captain with the local United Fire Authority. "You'd never think of seeing that young girl's face in a booking photo."

Gill and three others were arrested after Riverton police said they threw at least nine makeshift explosives from a passing car in neighbourhoods of the community of 40,000 residents, 30 kilometres south of Salt Lake City.

Mecham said the bombs were made of plastic bottles, aluminium foil and household chemicals. No one was injured.

"These things create a little bang, but they contained chemicals that could cause burns," he said. "They can even kill people."

Gill was charged with 10 counts of detonating an incendiary device.