Disneyland employee linked to second dry-ice explosion, D.A. says

A 22-year-old Disneyland employee set off two separate dry-ice explosions at the theme park, prosecutors alleged Thursday.

One of the explosions -- inside a trash can -- was reported Tuesday around 5 p.m. and forced the evacuation of Toontown for two hours while police investigators and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s bomb squad moved through the amusement park.

Prosecutors on Thursday said there had been earlier explosion. “Sometime after 4 p.m., a female employee went to relieve the defendant from his shift at a vending cart outside of Toontown. Christian Isaiah Barnes is accused of opening the vending cart, at which time the first water bottle containing dry ice exploded,” Orange County prosecutors said in a statement.

The defendant is accused of then taking the second water bottle from the cart and walking toward the employee break room. While passing through Toontown, Barnes is accused of placing the second water bottle containing dry ice in a trash can, then leaving the immediate area.

Several minutes later, a custodian was removing trash bags from trash cans in Toontown and removed the bag containing the destructive device. The custodian put the bag on the ground and walked a short distance to clear another trash can. While the trash bag was on the ground, the water bottle exploded.

No one was hurt in either blast. But the explosion caused some brief chaos in a Disneyland location that features Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin and other attractions aimed at youngsters.

Barnes, of Long Beach, was charged Thursday in Orange County Superior Court with a felony count of possession of a destructive device in a public place. He faces six years in state prison if convicted.

“Barnes is cooperating with investigators and has indicated this is an isolated incident with unanticipated impacts,” Anaheim police Sgt. Bob Dunn said after the arrest Wednesday morning.

Neither Barnes, who was in custody and not available for comment, nor immediate members of his family commented on the incident. In his North Long Beach neighborhood Wednesday, one neighbor described Barnes as a “good kid.”

“This is a good family and a good neighborhood,” said the woman, who declined to be identified.

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