Pinellas News
Woman unwittingly disposes of dynamite at Largo police station
By Stephen Thompson | Tribune Staff
Published: June 29, 2009
A Largo police officer going through some old shotgun shells a woman had turned in for proper disposal at the police station found something else in the mix Sunday morning: a half-stick of dynamite.Published: June 29, 2009
An X-ray of the device - performed by the Tampa Bomb Squad in the police department parking lot -- determined it was an explosive, said Lt. Mike Loux of the Largo Police Department. A convoy of vehicles transported the dynamite to a radio field, where the squad detonated the dynamite.
The bomb squad told Largo police the dynamite had been tampered with and, while it was not as powerful as it once was, its stability was unknown, Loux said.
The woman who turned in the shotgun shells - and, unwittingly, the dynamite - told police they were the property of her deceased husband.
She knew he used the shotgun shells were used for duck hunting and presumed he was interested in the dynamite as he was an engineer by profession.
Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336.