ANKENY, Iowa (WHO) — A suburban street in Iowa has been subjected to booms and bangs from explosive devices for months.
However, the latest attempt was foiled by 9-year-old Maya Buffington before the bomb went off.
“At first, I thought it was a dead squirrel or a dead bunny,” Maya said.
She found the object in the middle of the road on Waywin Drive in Ankeny Wednesday morning, but ran away from it when she looked closer at it.
“It was kind of scary, but I knew exactly what to do, which was to tell my mom,” Maya said. “She went to go look at it, and she saw a fuse coming out of it. It was wrapped with duct tape and cardboard. I felt like it was going to go off and I was going to get blown up.”
The family called 911 immediately. Ankeny Police soon arrived to disarm the explosive, which they did successfully.
This is not the first incident with explosives on this street. Neighbors such as Kent Krueger have seen and heard them multiple times leading up to Wednesday, including an incident late Sunday which left a mark on the pavement.
“That jolted me out of bed. My wife was watching TV and she saw the flash from the explosion,” Krueger said. “I’m wondering what the heck’s going on and why this is happening in our neighborhood and on our street.”
Ankeny Police left a letter at every house on Waywin Drive Thursday warning residents about the explosives and pleading for information on the case.
“It’s a residential neighborhood and it’s very out of the ordinary. That’s why we’re looking into it,” said Sgt. Corey Schneden of the Ankeny Police Department. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
No one has been hurt in these incidents.
Ankeny Police believe it is unlikely these incidents are connected to the pipe bomb found near a polling place in March because the explosives found on Waywin Drive are constructed much differently.