|
by Dawn Slade
Two male teenagers from Milaca have been charged with felony possession and manufacturing of five explosive and incendiary devices for the bombs found in Bock in June.
The 16-year-old and 18-year-old (he turned 18 after the incidents in June), who are both being charged as juveniles, will be seen in Mille Lacs County District Court on Monday, Oct. 5.
On June 14, a man found one of the explosive devices on an ATV/snowmobile trail near Bock. He brought the bomb to TNT (a gas station/convenience store) and asked the clerk to contact authorities.
It was made out of a WD-40 can with the fuse still intact.
The area was evacuated and power was shut off to TNT.
The Crow Wing County Bomb Squad was brought in to make the device safe.
Investigators then located two more bombs that had detonated in the same area, along with several items that appeared to have been used to make the pipe bomb.
The criminal complaint states that the area where one bomb had exploded has several BBs, pieces of PVC pipe and burn residue.
The owner of the residence where the ATV trail runs through told authorities he had heard some loud explosions during the night but assumed it was a shotgun or fireworks.
Additional items were found at the intersection of Anderson Avenue and Highway 23, which included an exploded CO2 cartridge with tape and BBs.
On July 2, while a Milaca Police Officer was interviewing a teenager on an unrelated incident, he informed the officer he had information on the pipe bomb incident in Bock.
Investigators learned that he had been at the residence of one of the suspects and saw the other suspect bring in several supplies and watched him make several devices.
The teens then cut across the Soo Line Trail to Bock where the devices were lit. According to the criminal complaint, two of the devices were “duds” and did not fire. One went off and made a “fountain-type” firework.
The teenager told authorities they were lit between 12:30 p.m. and 1 a.m.
The 16-year-old suspect admitted to authorities that he had made one device and that the other suspect had made two, and that the older suspect may have brought some others with him.
The 16-year-old described the devices as small - approximately four inches in length, one with a WD-40 can and one with a regular firecracker. However, he thought the time was around 11 p.m.
The 18-year-old admitted to authorities that he made the devices and then drew a diagram for the investigator as to how he made them, using CO2 cartridges, gun powder and a fuse.
He said he put that CO2 device into a PVC pipe, surrounded it with BBs “to give it a cool effect” when it went through the trees.
The final device was the WD-40 can with a pipe taped to it. The suspect said he did that so it would look like a large fireball when it went off.
He also told authorities about the duds that were still in the area.
With the help of the older suspect, investigators were able to locate two more bombs. One of those bombs was an exploded pipe bomb. The other was an unstable, armed “cricket” bomb (the one made from a CO2 cartridge wrapped with shrapnel).
Again, the Crow Wing County Bomb Squad was called in to safely detonate the cricket device.
The 18-year-old told authorities that they had not been near the intersection of Anderson Avenue and Highway 23, but said it was possible one of the devices had hit the road and bounced when he was throwing it.
Because the suspects are juveniles, their Oct. 5 hearing will not be open to the public.
According to Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Kolb, whose office is prosecuting the case, the consequences for the teenagers’ actions are unknown at this time.
 |
