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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Woman Charged in Target Bathroom Explosion

EVANSTON, Ill. (CN) — A Chicago woman faces felony arson charges in connection with an explosion in a suburban Target bathroom last week.

The minor explosion occurred around 4 p.m. last Wednesday in a stall in the women's bathroom of a Target on Howard Street in Evanston, Ill.

Police say Heidi Schmidt was inside the stall when it happened and immediately left the store unhurt. No one else was injured and the store remained open.

Schmidt, 44, is being held on a $250,000 bail set by Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas on Saturday, a Chicago Tribune report says. She has been charged with aggravated arson and unlawful possession of an explosive or incendiary device.

According to the Evanston Police Department, which received help in its investigation from the Cook County Bomb Squad, officers found a plastic bottle in the stall with "items that are commonly combined in a method to produce a chemical high, but during the mixture process can become volatile and explode."

The police department also said in a press release that there is no evidence to connect the incident to a hate crime or Target's new policies allowing transgender individuals to use the bathroom of their choice.

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