Ok, another story for my local neighborhood of Lockland, Ohio in the Cincinnati area. This time a pipe bomb was found in an area between I-75, a major highway. It was also located very close to the Lockland School, and while I have no love for the school district as you may know if you are a regular reader of my blog, I would not wish anything bad like that to happen to them. My wife and I feel that it is probably some kids who made the device because there was no explosive in it. They probably got everything together, but were not able to obtain any explosives to make it work.
I will continue to follow this storuy, and post any further updates as they become available.
Pipe bomb discovery shuts Interstate 75 for two hours
Police here shut down Interstate 75 for more than two hours Wednesday to investigate what was later verified by the Hamilton County Bomb Squad as a pipe bomb found near the interstate.
The bomb squad used a robot to disrupt the device electronically, said Lockland Police Chief James Toles. It was "very sophisticated," but contained no explosives, Toles said.
The metal 6- to 8-inch pipe with wires, a battery pack and an LED light was found behind S.A.T. Trucking Co., between the north and southbound split on I-75 in Lockland near Brown Street and Shepherd Lane.
Toles decided to close the highway between Shepherd Lane and Galbraith Road because of its proximity to the object just after 1 p.m. Lockland High School and Lockland Elementary School were evacuated at about 1:30 p.m., along with about 20 homes and a handful of businesses.
The decision to close the highway resulted in a massive traffic jam. The road reopened around 3:30 p.m.
Village Administrator Dave Krings said he supports Toles' decision to shut down the highway.
"You always have to put human life first. I think he made the right decision," Krings said.
S.A.T. co-owner Karen DeBord said she found the device around 11 a.m.
"I thought it looked suspiciously like a pipe bomb," DeBord said. "It had Scotch tape on it and looked sort of hokey, but we decided to call the police." Her business partner, Greg Larimer, said he thought it may have been thrown from the interstate.
Toles said Lockland Police will lead the investigation into determining who built the pipe bomb and how it came to be in the back of S.A.T. Police have the device in their possession. The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene to report to the Department of Homeland Security, Toles said.
During the standstill on I-75, ARTIMIS traffic operators scrambled to keep the unexpected snag under control.
"We've dealt with this many, many times before, but it's not like with weather when we can expect it," said Ahmad Saleh, traffic operator. Extra staff members were called in.
Metro had five bus routes affected by the traffic jam, spokeswoman Sallie Hilvers said, and rerouted them.
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