After finding three bottle bombs Tuesday on Newcastle’s Carter Avenue and receiving the advice of the Campbell County Bomb Squad, the local police department decided to detonate the explosives by shooting them with special rifle projectiles, the Newcastle police chief says.
The Newcastle Police Department responded Tuesday at 8:15 a.m. to Carter Avenuewhen a caller reported three bottles sitting equally spaced next to the sidewalk on the road’s west side, says a statement Newcastle Police Chief Derek Thompson released six hours later.
Police found three, 2-liter bottles on the grass between the sidewalk and the curb containing what the responding officer suspected to be drain or toilet-bowl cleaner, and aluminum foil.
“The bottles and their contents appeared consistent with what is commonly referred to as a ‘bottle bomb,’ ‘Draino bomb’ or ‘works bomb,’” says the statement.
A Campbell County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad operative consulted with the police department, and the authorities learned the safest way to neutralize the bombs would be to puncture them from a distance and detonate them.
“The bombs do pose a significant danger to anyone who is up close to them when they explode,” says the statement. “Based on the guidance we received, we chose (to) detonate them by using a particular type of rifle projectile that fragments very easily upon impact.”
By shattering when they hit the bottles, the projectiles would be less likely to damage surrounding property, the statement reasons.
Two of the bombs exploded when hit. The third was punctured and drained.
Hydrogen And Pressure
The pressure in the bottles forms when the cleaner chemicals mix with the tin foil, the statement says. And when the bottle is punctured, it explodes.
“Most of these devices do not create a large explosion in comparison to some other explosives,” says the statement, adding that they are nevertheless “still extremely dangerous and even deadly.”
The chemical reaction also yields heat and can seriously burn bystanders, the statement says.
Look Out
Lastly, the statement warns people that if they see something that looks like a bottle bomb, not to tamper with it. Rather, they should evacuate the area, call 911, and don’t worry about the “possible embarrassment” of reporting something that was not a bomb.
The incident remains under investigation.
Thompson did not immediately return a Tuesday request for comment.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
