Homemade IED discovered in northwest Indiana

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Photo courtesy of Captain Michael Kellems

A woman discovered a homemade bomb Monday while cleaning trash along a road in La Porte County, Indiana.

The woman was cleaning litter out of a ditch along Welnetz Road when she made the discovery, according to a statement on the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. The woman, believing the device was a homemade firework, took it to her home in the 600 block of Longwood Drive outside of Michigan City.

La Porte sheriff’s deputy Jim Fish was the first person on the scene and evacuated the area and called for assistance, authorities said. The Porter County Bomb Squad was called and technicians transported the device to a nearby field for detonation.

The device consisted of two mason jars that contained a flammable liquid that were connected by a fuse, authorities said.

According to Capt. Larry Sheets of the Porter County Bomb Squad, the device was made to be destructive or to injure someone and was considered very dangerous. Investigators were able to collect enough remnants of the device to help in their investigation of who created it.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office at (219) 326-7700.