Small pipe bomb found at Lake Ballinger boat launch

Edmonds police keep watch over the Lake Ballinger boat launch where the pipe bomb was found Friday night.
Edmonds police keep watch over the Lake Ballinger boat launch where the pipe bomb was found Friday night.

A grandfather and grandson fishing at a former boat launch along the western shore of Lake Ballinger found a mysterious device later described as a pipe bomb on Friday night. Edmonds police closed the boat launch located on the Edmonds side and a member of the Washington State Patrol bomb squad removed the devise around 9:15 p.m.

Mountlake Terrace resident Jay Byron and his grandson Marcos Sanchez, 11, were fishing from the shore near the 23800 block of 74th Avenue West when Marcos — while looking for worms — found a 4- to 6-inch cylinder partially beneath a large rock. Byron examined the device and concluded it was a small homemade bomb.

The device was made of cylinder PVC pipe, capped on both ends, wrapped in camouflage duct tape, and heavy for its size, Byron explained. “If it had been metal I wouldn’t have known if it was loaded or not. But it’s PVC pipe, full of sand or powder or something.”

“We grabbed our fishing poles and ran,” he added.

A 15-year member of the Washington State Patrol Interagency Bomb Team was called in by Edmonds police to remove the device. “It could take your fingers off,” the officer said as he carried the pipe bomb away in a secure “frag” bag. The device was taken to the bomb squad Arlington office where team members would “disrupt it.”

The boat launch was reopened for public use around 9:30 p.m.

– Story and photo by Doug Petrowski/MLTnews.com

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