Arrest Made in Tampa Hard Rock Casino Improvised Explosives Case

Law enforcement authorities arrested Tampa, Florida, resident Bryan Robert Eckley on Wednesday, accusing him of leaving two improvised explosive devices at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa in late September.

Officials charged Eckley with two counts of making and placing destructive devices with the intent to harm, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Vehicle Provides Key Evidence that Led to Arrest

The announcement of the arrest came jointly from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), the Seminole Police Department, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI.

The improvised explosives were found inside two men’s bathrooms at the Hard Rock Casino on the night of September 29 and the early morning of September 30. 

After the casino was partially evacuated as a precaution, the Seminole Police Department and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department sent in bomb squads, and the devices were deemed safe. However, investigators had few leads in the immediate aftermath of the incidents.

“All we had that morning was an unknown suspect who placed two devices in a public place, and me might do it again,” FDLE Tampa Bay Special Agent Mark Brutnell said when announcing the arrest. “We had nothing to go on.”

The break came when investigators learned of a man who had been behaving suspiciously in the casino on September 25. The man was driving a distinctive white Ford Explorer, which allowed law enforcement to track down the vehicle’s previous owner. They then discovered that Eckley had purchased the vehicle under an alias, paying in cash and communicating with a burner phone.

“This individual did everything he could to conceal his identity,” Brutnell said. “He used a mask, he used an alias, he used several burner cellphones, he used cash transactions.”

Police: Eckley Arrested Days Before Incident

Investigators then found that Eckley had been arrested on September 26 for aggravated assault with a firearm. In that case, Eckley is accused of getting into a political argument with another man, leaving that man’s home, then returning with two handguns and a rifle, shooting one rifle round into the air. He was later arrested but was released on September 27 after posting a $5,500 bond.

 Authorities say that forensic evidence from the two incidents matched, pointing them to Eckley as their suspect.

While neither device detonated, an arrest warrant filed in Hillsborough County notes that one of them was found near a gas line and that both “posed a risk of serious bodily injury to anyone in the vicinity.”

“He will be held accountable for his actions that could have endangered many lives,” Brutnell said.

Eckley was booked at Hillsborough County jail on Wednesday and was being held without bail as of Thursday, according to court records.