A look at the fireworks company that sold products to two suspected terrorists this month

By Eric Levenson, Jeff Winter, CNN

(CNN) — Shortly after a man attacked a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, earlier this month, William Weimer received a call from employees at a Phantom Fireworks store in nearby Livonia.

Agents at the store told Weimer, Phantom’s vice president and general counsel for over three decades, they had a subpoena for information on the suspect in the attack.

Phantom then searched its “very sophisticated” internal system and quickly found the suspect’s name, address, a receipt for $2,250 of fireworks and surveillance video of his visit to the store, Weimer told CNN.

“This was not our first rodeo,” he said.

In fact, it was not the only incident this month in which a suspected terrorist shopped at Phantom Fireworks. Just days earlier, a Pennsylvania teenager purchased a safety fuse for $6.89 at a Phantom Fireworks store before allegedly tossing two homemade bombs at a New York City protest, Weimer said. The bombs did not explode.

In light of the purchases, as well as a heightened threat environment during the war with Iran, CNN spoke to Weimer and national security experts to better understand Phantom’s security protocols, business and value to law enforcement.

While laws vary by state, generally people must be 18 years old to buy fireworks. The consumer-grade fireworks sold to the public are regulated by federal law, Weimer said. They are designed not to mass-detonate or chain-ignite, with the exception of a few types of firecrackers, he said.

“People think what we sell is a lot more energetic than it actually is,” he said.

CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller said Phantom’s record-keeping and clear surveillance video are enormously helpful to investigators.

“This is the kind of thing that, if you have an identified suspect, it goes to prove that they bought the materials that were used in the device. If you don’t have an identified suspect, these records may actually help you make that identification,” he said.

Juliette Kayyem, CNN national security analyst, similarly praised Phantom Fireworks for putting these measures in place.

“What Phantom Fireworks does is it understands that it’s in a high-risk industry – but a lawful one – and therefore has put in important safety measures, including documenting every purchase, so that they can help law enforcement if they were used for dangerous purchases,” she said.

“They’re not required by law to do that,” she added. “They’re a large company that has taken on a public obligation willingly. You don’t see that very often.”

‘America’s #1 Fireworks Retailer’

Phantom Fireworks operates over 80 showrooms in 15 states that are open year-round, as well as about 2,000 temporary locations in 17 states around the July Fourth holiday, its website states. The company is based in Youngstown, Ohio, and describes itself as “America’s #1 Fireworks Retailer.”

“We are dedicated to providing the highest quality consumer fireworks that bring joy and excitement to celebrations across America,” the website says. “We are committed to offering exceptional value, ensuring safety, and delivering an unforgettable experience for our customers.”

Because some states have less strict laws than others, many of Phantom’s stores are positioned along state borders. For example, Phantom does not operate any showrooms in New York or New Jersey, but a handful of stores are positioned just over the border in Pennsylvania.

Its widespread access also means that over the past few decades, multiple terrorist suspects have shopped at its stores.

For example, one of the Boston Marathon bombers purchased fireworks at a Phantom Fireworks in New Hampshire two months prior to the 2013 attack, according to court records. Further, the man who tried to bomb New York’s Times Square in 2010 had spent under $100 at a Phantom store in Pennsylvania more than a month beforehand, CNN reported at the time.

Even so, Miller did not have concerns about the company.

“You can’t really single out Phantom Fireworks because the company has turned up in more than one case,” he said. “It’s like singling out Walmart for selling the backpack seen on the suspect in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping.”

Miller, formerly the Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism of the New York Police Department, said Phantom “always cooperated with subpoenas or requests for information.”

Two attacks, two trips to Phantom

Similar scenarios occurred last week, as the alleged bomb-throwing in New York and the attack in Michigan came after purchases at Phantom Fireworks stores.

On March 7, two suspects were arrested and accused of throwing bombs at a protest outside the New York City mayor’s home in what authorities said was an ISIS-inspired attack.

According to authorities, Emir Balat, 18, threw an “ignited device toward the protest area” which “struck a barrier and extinguished itself.” He allegedly retrieved a second device from Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, lit the device and dropped it near police officers, though it too did not explode, according to a criminal complaint.

Surveillance video shows Balat buying a 20-foot consumer firework safety fuse in Pennsylvania on March 2, according to Phantom Fireworks.

Weimer said after they saw the news of the NYC incident, they checked in their records to see if either of the suspects had shopped at their store before.

“We’ve been down this road before, and when we heard the names on TV, we searched our records and found the fellow. And then we were in touch with the FBI, and they sent us a subpoena asking for the records, the sales record, as well as the videos,” Weimer told CNN last week.

The purchase was “a totally unremarkable sale,” he said. “Somebody comes in and buys one roll of a fuse like this fella did, nobody there would have thought anything of it.”

Days afterward, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old resident of Michigan’s Dearborn Heights, drove his explosives-laden truck into Temple Israel synagogue and opened fire in West Bloomfield, Michigan, on March 12.

Law enforcement found “a large quantity of commercial-grade fireworks” and several jugs of flammable liquid believed to be gasoline in the bed of the truck, said FBI Detroit Field Office special agent in charge Jennifer Runyan.

The attacker had purchased $2,250 worth of fireworks from the Phantom Fireworks store in Livonia, Michigan, on March 10, two days before the attack, according to Weimer. Ghazali said he was shopping for fireworks for his family and an upcoming Eid celebration marking the end of Ramadan, Weimer explained. A manager who helped him with the sale described him as “jovial” and “happy,” according to Weimer.

Ghazali purchased a variety of fireworks, including aerial fireworks and firecrackers, he said. The surveillance footage shows Ghazali placed a large collection of materials on the counter and then went around the store shopping for more products. “My family needs more than this,” Ghazali said, according to Weimer.

Phantom turned surveillance footage of Ghazali over to federal agents who came in asking about the sale and presented the store with a federal grand jury subpoena.

Weimer said in a store where purchases of $5,000 and $10,000 are not unusual, Ghazali did not raise any suspicions because he asked the same questions other customers ask: “What’s the loudest? What’s the most powerful?” and he explained what event he wanted the fireworks for.

While the two purchases were different in scale, they reveal a level of planning on the part of the suspects, Kayyem said.

“You had two very different types of purchases in this instance,” she said, “but both show a level of planning and research that is very disturbing.”

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CNN’s Taylor Galgano contributed to this report.