Local magnet fishing youtuber pulls warhead out of Saint Joseph River

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A local content creator's incredible find while magnet fishing in the Saint Joseph River over the weekend led to the South Bend Police Department dispatching its bomb squad and shutting down the Angela Blvd. Bridge for hours Sunday.

"I can't even like explain how thrilling and hearts pounding, and scared we kind of were," recalls Dani Dip, Magnet Fisher and Youtuber.

A typical day of magnet fishing for Dip and his friends took a turn Sunday after realizing their biggest and most dangerous catch yet is on the other end of the line.

"It took four people to pull this big two-foot round over the wall to safety so it wouldn't fall back in and potentially go off," Dip explains.

The large warhead at the bottom of the Saint Joseph River: unexploded but unclear whether it's still live.

"We believe this is a 175-millimeter Howitzer round from like a stationary cannon back in the day," says Dip.

It's not the first time Dip has gone magnet fishing on the Angela Blvd. Bridge.

Just days before finding the big bomb, Dip picked up a smaller bomb almost in the exact same spot.

"We have found over 20+ guns here; we have found two bombs now and we have pulled in at least a thousand pounds just on our last day there," Dip says. "I want to say we probably found like 3,000 pounds of metal from just that bridge."

Each of those finds are either helping to solve a crime, uncover a piece of history, or simply cleaning up our bodies of water.

"We're just here to help and clean out the river and see what we can find, on top of just having a blast and treasure hunt," says Dip.

The South Bend Police Department says further testing was needed after the bomb was taken into the bomb squad's possession to make sure it isn't live before they properly dispose of it.