Accused Orem bombmaker charged with 75 felonies by Utah County Attorney’s Office
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- The 4th District Courthouse in Provo is pictured.
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- Provo Police Sgt. Bryce Lewis, a member of the Metro Bomb Squad, uses a Single Vent Transporter trailer to transport explosives to a secure location for destruction.
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- Provo police block off a section of road near the west entrance of the Provo Towne Centre mall Friday, April 25, 2025, as the bomb squad investigates inside the vehicle of a suspect who allegedly brandished a weapon in the area.
Charges were field Tuesday against an Orem man after police said they discovered several homemade bombs in the man’s vehicle and apartment.
Eric Whitaker, 41, was charged with 75 counts of manufacture, possession, sale, use, or attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction by the Utah County Attorney’s Office in Provo’s Fourth District Court.
Whitaker was detained Friday by Provo Police after he was reportedly brandishing a gun near the Provo Towne Center Mall. Police said they found four explosive devices in his car, and later discovered 71 homemade bombs in his apartment.
Court documents released Tuesday provided further detail of what allegedly happened.
According to a probable cause statement, Provo Police responded to a report Friday of a man “waving a gun around” at the Provo Towne Centre Mall before driving away in a blue Nissan Sentra. Police found the vehicle on Towne Center Boulevard and followed it to a nearby church parking lot.
Whitaker reportedly got out of the vehicle in the church parking lot and told officers he had been involved in a road rage incident and felt threatened so he pulled out his gun. Police said he was calling 911 from the church parking lot to report the incident, and granted police permission to retrieve the gun from his vehicle.
Police found a Glock 20 with a magazine holding 13 rounds and a round in the chamber in the front seat of the vehicle, court documents said, along with 11 additional loaded magazines in a bag. The report said Whitaker also permitted police to search his trunk, where they found “an object wrapped in duct tape with a fuse attached.”
A bomb squad then responded, X-raying the device and determining it was an improvised explosive device (IED) containing nails and round metal pellets, and finding three additional devices in the trunk, the court document stated.
A warrant was then obtained to search Whitaker’s Orem apartment, where police reportedly located 71 IEDs, and additional bomb-making materials including fireworks, tape, spray adhesives, nails and thumbtacks in his bedroom.
“(Whitaker’s) apartment complex was evacuated and the bomb squad removed the devices and transported them to a shooting range where they were detonated,” the court document read. “Several of the devices exploded while the officers were attempting to recover evidence from them. When detonated, officers heard shrapnel hitting objects at the range.”
Whitaker is being held without bail. According to Provo Police, there is no indication of any ongoing threat to the public.
