Waukegan Police Department alerted area police departments and especially Skokie police about 1:40 a.m. Wednesday, March 2 that a Skokie resident, Katherine Brandt, 23, of the 7800 block of Niles Avenue was wanted for aggravated assault charges after a domestic disturbance involving a large pocket knife. Police were also given an officer safety alert that Katherine Brandt might possess explosives and a blow torch in the trunk of a Chevy 4-door, and that she may be armed with the knife. Police had several locations to look for the suspect.
Just before 3:40 a.m. Wednesday, police located the vehicle Brandt’s was supposed to be driving at an Aldi grocery store parking lot in the 4800 block of Oakton, arrested her at the scene and located 37 grams of black powder dynamite in a half stick of dynamite including brown paper wrapper and a wick in the vehicle.
The Cook County Bomb Squad was called to the scene to remove the dynamite and check for any spilling of the explosive material.
The woman said she received the dynamite from a neighbor in July 2010, and wasn’t sure why she left it in her vehicle.