THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 18, 1997 TAG: 9702180305
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN AND CINDY CLAYTON, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 44 lines
Fire officials who were investigating a mailbox explosion Sunday morning in Lakeland found a second device at a home on Kempsville Road Monday. No one was injured. The second device did not explode.
Fire and paramedical spokesman Jack Goldhorn said investigators are looking into a possible link between the incidents, though there was no apparent motive in either case. The incidents occurred several miles apart, both near Military Highway.
``The time factor is so close together; that's why we're putting the two together,'' Goldhorn said.
The Lakeland explosion happened early Sunday morning in the 1800 block of Longdale Drive, Goldhorn said. A man living at that address called dispatchers Monday morning after he realized his mailbox had been destroyed. The mailbox was detached from the house, on a pole near the curb.
Neighbors told investigators they heard the explosion between 1 and 2 a.m. Sunday, but the owner did not know his mailbox had been destroyed until Monday morning.
Investigators found fragments of a small explosive device, Goldhorn said, but he would not elaborate. The pieces were being investigated.
``The device was strong enough to cause bodily harm if someone was nearby,'' he said.
The second device was found about 1:45 p.m. Monday in the 1400 block of Kempsville Road, near the intersection of Military Highway and Northampton Boulevard.
Bob Denton, the owner of the Kempsville Road mailbox, had just come home from a trip when he looked into his mailbox and saw a round tube with what looked like a fuse sticking out.
Denton said he took the tube, which had the word ``explosives'' written on it, out of the box, put it on the ground in the back yard and called police.
The Virginia Beach Police Bomb Squad came and took the device away without detonating it.
Goldhorn said both devices were military-style explosives that simulate bombs. Investigators may be able to trace the devices to their origin, he said.
KEYWORDS: MAILBOX BOMB LETTER BOMB