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Florida woman arrested in 'booby trapped' home with more than 3,700 blades

By Les Neuhaus TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida woman living in a mobile home that was "booby trapped" with more than 3,714 swords, knives and other bladed weapons was in jail on Thursday after attacking officers who had come to arrest her, police said. Nickcole Dykema, 47, was being held without bond on charges including assaulting an officer and resisting arrest, said Hernando County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Denise Moloney. Authorities discovered a macabre scene Tuesday evening when they arrived to arrest Dykema for a probation violation, with blades hanging from the ceiling and walls of her mobile home in Brooksville, about 50 miles north of Tampa, Moloney said. When officers knocked on her door, Dykema barricaded herself inside and then lunged at one officer with a sword-like weapon, narrowly missing an officer's head, Moloney said. It took deputies five hours to subdue Dykema and arrest her, Moloney said. Several investigators suffered minor injuries removing the blades from the home. Authorities said they also discovered booby traps, fake skeletons, rubber Halloween-style masks and fake severed limbs throughout the residence. "You name it and it was in there," Moloney said, adding sheriff's officials believed Dykema needed help for mental illness. At the time of the incident, Dykema was on probation because of a February conviction for carrying a concealed firearm without a permit, Moloney said. Officers obtained warrants for her arrest after a neighbor accused her of knifing a screen window. It was not immediately clear if Dykema had an attorney. (Editing by Letitia Stein and Bill Trott)