Caught on camera: Vandals blow up Salem newspaper box

SALEM, Mass. — Police in Salem are investigating an explosion at a news box for The Rainbow Times.

Seven people can be seen on video, placing the device inside the box in Salem Square around 1:19 a.m. Tuesday.

“At first it was very shocking to me. I literally gasped and covered my mouth,” Rainbow Times Editor in Chief Nicole Lashomb said.

The explosion could be heard up to a mile away, and police said they received numerous calls about it.

Lashomb told FOX25's Malini Basu that the Rainbow Times newspaper boxes have been vandalized at least a dozen times over the past three months.

"The vandalization started relatively small, basically trash in the newspaper boxes," she said. In the past, vandals have put chicken carcasses and dried up crab in the boxes.

Lashomb is calling it a hate crime.

"I do think it is a hate crime, definitely. Police have also agreed with us on that. It was very deliberate when you watch the video,” she said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Salem Police Detective Kevin St. Pierre at (978) 744-0171 ext.179.

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