Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 25, 1994 TAG: 9408250093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Around midnight, soon after he started checking doors of businesses in Clifton Forge, the earth beneath him shook.
Debris from a pipe bomb that exploded 25 yards away fell harmlessly beside his leg.
Now he wonders if the bomb was intended for him or was in retaliation for a murder that occurred in the neighborhood earlier this month.
"It cranks up your level of awareness a couple of notches," Carter said Wednesday. "It makes you concerned for your own safety."
Clifton Forge Police Chief Barry Balser isn't taking any chances. He has called in the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to investigate.
Police have recovered remnants of the bomb, which will be sent to a federal crime lab for analysis.
No one was hurt by the blast.
The bomb was thrown near a house where Carlene Hamm, 16, of Low Moor was killed last week when someone shot into a group of people. Police have charged Floyd Melvin Wall, 46, of Clifton Forge, with murder.
Balser said it has not been determined whether the blast had any connection to the murder or whether the bomb was directed at Carter.
Fragments of the bomb were found in the guttering of the house, which is occupied by Wall's brother. Another fragment pierced the grille of a car parked outside the house.
Carter said he had just started checking doors on the east side of town when he noticed the gym window was ajar at Clifton Forge East Elementary School.
As he walked toward the window, he heard the clang of metal on the ground as the bomb discharged.
"I could feel the ground shake," Carter said in a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon. "I was trying to figure how to get into better cover."
Seconds after the bomb exploded, he radioed for help. He said he had started backing around the corner of the school for cover when some neighborhood residents came out on their porch. He decided he needed to make sure they were safe and headed toward them.
"They wanted to know what is going on," Carter said.
Soon backup officers had come to Carter's assistance.
He hopes the bomb wasn't intended for him.
"If they were trying to get me, they didn't want to get too close - or they had bad aim," Carter said. "I kind of believe that it was directed at the [Wall] residence across the street."
But then again, he's not ruling out that the bomb could have been intended for him.
"There's always a possibility it could have been," he said.
by CNB