Wednesday, April 22, 1998 | 9:15 a.m.
CARSON CITY, Nev. - A widow and her 12-year-old son were injured Tuesday in an apparent retaliation bombing as she backed her van out of a parking space to take the boy and his 13-year-old brother to school.
The sheriff's department identified the victim as Sonia Melendez, 34, seriously injured by shrapnel from a pipe bomb that hit her lower back. She was taken to Washoe Medical Center in Reno for surgery.
The 12-year-old boy suffered leg wounds and was treated and released at Carson-Tahoe Hospital. The 13-year-old was unharmed.
Sheriff Rod Banister said the woman, from El Salvador, got an anonymous threat shortly after moving here eight months ago, warning her that she would "get the same as her husband."
Melendez' husband died in Mexico in October 1994, but Banister said he didn't know any of the circumstances, including whether the man was murdered or whether drugs may have been involved.
"This is something that goes back a ways," he added. "We just don't know why."
To get details on the Mexico death and possible leads from El Salvador, the sheriff said he's seeking help from the FBI. The federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms also is involved in the case.
Banister described the bomb as a sophisticated device that had been hidden under the upholstery in the back of the driver's seat, and wired to the transmission so that it detonated once the vehicle was put in reverse.
The woman managed to jump out of the van, thinking at first that she had been shot, and a man who heard the blast ran over and dumped water on the smoking car seat.
Chief Deputy Bill Callahan said the sheriff's department will investigate the case as a triple murder attempt. Officers are looking for witnesses who might have seen anyone around the car, which had been parked and locked early Monday afternoon.
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