Traille (Arlington County Police Department)

Arlington County Police filed charges against a man suspected of attempting to detonate a Molotov cocktail yesterday at the Ballston Commons Mall. Leon Alphans Traille Jr., 29, was charged with reckless endangerment, use of a firebomb and attempted malicious bodily injury by use of fire.

Police say Traille, who has no fixed address, allegedly dropped a 40-ounce glass bottle filled with a flammable liquid and capped with a homemade fuse from a walkway overlooking the mall’s food court about noon yesterday. No one was injured when the bottle hit the floor, shattered and failed to ignite, but mall security and police proceeded to evacuate the shopping center, though some patrons told DCist they were still able to run errands and even slip into the movie theater.

Officers responding to the scene yesterday found three more Molotov cocktails not far from where Traille was allegedly standing. The investigation eventually included the Arlington Fire Department, county fire marshal, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Traille will be formally charged this morning in Arlington County Court and is also expected to face federal charges, police said.