(The following story by Lise Fisher & Karen Voyles appeared on the Gainesville Sun website on September 4.)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Investigators were looking for answers Thursday after a work crew discovered someone had left two pipe bombs on a railroad track near Newberry.
The Alachua County Sheriff’s Bomb Disposal Team rendered the devices safe, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Art Forgey. Along with deputies, agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were called out to the scene in the area of 78th Avenue and U.S. 41 after workers, conducting tests on signals along the railroad, made the discovery.
Crew members reportedly moved the devices off the tracks and dialed 911. The devices were found in the middle of the track, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
No one was injured.
“The surveying crew – which was from a private company – called us about this at 9:26 a.m.,” Forgey said. “We dispatched a deputy who then called for the bomb squad and they were on scene at 10:30 a.m.”
Forgey said at this time investigators don’t know why or who left the pipe bombs.
The pipe bombs were not big enough to have disrupted service along the railroad tracks, Forgey said. But he said the devices could have hurt someone who accidentally came across them. It did appear someone had tried to light the pipe bombs, he added.
While officers dealt with the pipe bombs, more sections of track were being to checked to ensure no other devices had been left behind, Forgey said.
There were no additional reports of problems along the track by later in the day.
Trains hauling freight use this section of track, moving bulk molasses and plastic pellets between locations in Newberry and High Springs, Forgey said.