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Family returning from church finds ‘Works bomb’ in front yard

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) – Officials are investigating 4 “Works bombs” found in one Greenwood neighborhood.

They say it was probably a prank, but it could have serious consequences.

The victim was returning home from church on Sunday when she found the device laying in her front lawn.

“Every time you turn around you hear some lunatic that does stuff like that,” said Steve Hershberger whose wife found the bomb in the grass next to their driveway.

Authorities say she is lucky she did not touch it.

“You can lose a hand in this, you can lose your sight,” said Lieutenant Matt Rhinehart with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene. They brought out the bomb squad and a robot to diffuse it.

The bomb itself is rather simple, and they say that is the issue when dealing with public safety.

“Most of the problem that we run into is the unpredictability of when they’re going to go off,” said Lt. Rhinehart. “If the device explodes you’re getting hydrochloric acid for instance, that could be dispersed into their eyes, it can burn the skin.”

Gas builds up inside the bottle from household chemicals used to make it.

Sunlight, body heat or even touching it can make it go off which is even more of a reason for those in the neighborhood to be cautious.

“There are a lot of good people out there still, fortunately. But there are just nut jobs out there that thrive on doing this kind of stuff,” said Hershberger.

No one has been arrested, but if they’re caught they could face felony charges for constructing a bomb.

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