Father, son get federal sentences for explosion on bridge outside IMS
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A father and son are headed to federal prison for years after making a bomb that caused a crater on 16th Street outside of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Wayne Turner, 58, was sentenced on Wednesday to 46 months in federal prison. His son, 24-year-old Isak Turner, was sentenced in February to 42 months in federal prison. They each had pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of an unregistered destructive device.
According to court document, the men had been celebrating Wayne Turner’s birthday on Dec. 20, 2019, when he decided to make the device. Along with Isak Turner’s girlfriend, they went to the intersection of 16th Street and Olin Avenue on the southside of IMS.
Isak Turner lit the device with a cigarette and threw it off a bridge, landing in the median of 16th Street. The explosion caused a crater, damage to a railroad bridge, damage to a light fixture and damage to a passing vehicle.
They were caught soon by Speedway Police Department officers who saw them walking.
This wasn’t the first time Wayne Turner was linked to an explosion in Indianapolis.
Court documents acquired by News 8 in 2019 linked him to a 2018 explosion in Irvington. He had also been convicted of throwing an “M-80”-style device over a fence at IMS the day before the 2016 Indianapolis 500.
