Authorities detonate bomb left on doorstep in Florida

Sunday, May 28, 2006

According to St. Johns County Sheriff's Office in Julington Creek, Florida ten homes had to be temporarily evacuated after a suspicious package was left on a doorstep of a home on West Pleasant Place in the city and featured a photo of the skyline of New York City and the former World Trade Center towers.

"We have a Sept. 11 scene - a scene of New York City prior to Sept. 11. After that fact, we're not going to too many specifics about the device itself, certainly we'll let ATF and our investigators look at that," said Chuck Mulligan, St. Johns County officer.

The tenants were not expecting a package and called police to report it as being suspicious. The bomb squad responded and used a special robot to look at the package and open it. When the robot opened the package, authorities saw what appeared to be a bomb. They then detonated the package two times, both of which exploded. After recovering the material, they determined that two pipe bombs had been inside the package.

"Normally, even if someone has designed a package to look as though it's an explosive device, we find nothing explosive inside. Certainly different today," added Mulligan.

It is still unknown who placed the bombs on the doorstep and why they did it. So far no arrests have been made and no suspects have been announced. Authorities have set up a tip line for anyone who has information on the case.