The neighborhood around on Fernwood Drive and Georgia Street had to be shut down Thursday night. About eight blocks or so were cordoned off, but by 11 p.m. things started to finally calm down in the neighborhood. Investigators believe all the explosive devices from one Vallejo home have been accounted for, which is good news for residents that were told that it was finally safe to return to their homes.
Vallejo police arrived at the 3700 block of Georgia Street after getting a tip that the person living here was manufacturing and detonating explosive devices. Investigators did not give specifics, only that they found multiple devices. ABC7 News was told that what they found were probably pipe bombs.
Vallejo police doesn't have a bomb squad of their own, which is why they asked the FBI and the Napa County Sheriff's department for help. They used robots to find the explosive devices inside the house. They then placed them in the middle of the street, surrounded them with sandbags and detonated them.
"Well you're probably not going to bring a house down with it, but certainly if it was around something that was flammable, if it had gone off and it's in the vicinity of a human being, or some living creature, it certainly has enough power to kill someone, or at least seriously maim them. So they are dangerous. We're not going to find craters in the middle of the street, but it certainly can kill and maim people," said Vallejo police Sgt. Jeff Bassett.
The bomb squad detonated a second set of bombs, but that took place in the backyard and we were unable to see it. Vallejo police are not releasing the identity of the person they say was manufacturing these explosive devices. All they're saying is that he's a man in his 50s. He is under arrest and will be charged with a felony.
