Mishawaka Police respond to fifth bomb scare in Michiana
MISHAWAKA, Ind.- Federal agents are now joining in on the investigation into two pipe bombs found near a Mishawaka plaza.
Police made the discovery Monday morning near Indian Ridge Boulevard and Grape Road. Mishawaka PD along with the help of the ATF and the South Bend bomb squad will continue the investigation.
Mishawaka Chief of Police, Ken Witkowski says there’s no immediate community threat.
One construction worker says he was able to get a first look at the pipe bombs as he worked. “I saw it real quick before the officer told us to go get away,” says Dan.
Dan is a construction worker out of Cleveland, “We’re building a CoreLife eatery,” he says. He started off his morning normally until, “We knew we were going to get evacuated."
Around 9:30 a.m. he noticed two pipe bombs near two metal containers at the intersection of Indian Ridge Blvd. and Grape Rd.
“It’s just a little pipe about eight inches long with a wick coming out, laying right in the grass on the curb off the street,” says Dan.
Chief Witkowski says in order to stay safe, officers had to evacuate everyone in neighboring businesses. “Normally you want to be 1,000 feet away from a device like that, you never know how extreme it is,” says the chief.
McDonald's, the Vitamin Shoppe and other places were emptied out as the South Bend bomb squad made its way in. “It’s nothing we deal with on a normal basis, so it’s better to be on the safe side,” says Chief Witkowski.
Moments later, the sound that signals safety, “That’s a device that the South Bend bomb squad uses to destroy an apparatus such as that to make it safe,” says the chief.
This follows a string of recent pipe bomb scares across Michiana. Chief Witkowski says they’re working on seeing if these incidents could be related.
“ATF is out here, they’re going to help us investigate the case and see if they are associated.” Just last week investigators found a pipe bomb in Elkhart County and two more pipe bombs were found in Marshall County.