MAN CARRIES BOMB INTO CAPE POLICE STATION

A bomb squad detonated a glass jar containing liquid and an explosive substance Wednesday after a man carried it into the Cape Girardeau Police Department and announced that he didn't want it around his house.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol handled the detonation, and experts are trying to determine what the substances were.

"There was some sort of colored substance in a liquid," said Sgt. J.D. Simmons, supervisor for technical services and explosives disposal for the highway patrol.

A man who police only identified as a Cape Girardeau resident brought the jar to the police station Wednesday, Lt. Carl Kinnison said.

"A friend of his told him that it was a bomb, and he said he didn't want it around his house," Kinnison said.

As a precautionary measure, officers took the jar outside to the parking lot behind the police station and called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. ATF agents examined the container and recommended that police contact the highway patrol, which uses a specialized trailer to analyze potential bombs before exploding them.

The glass jar sat in the parking lot for about three hours, until a city dump truck filled with sand arrived. The police dug a small hole in the sand and placed the jar inside the hole.

The dump truck received a police escort south on Sprigg Street with a fire engine following. The dump truck entered a fenced-in pit near the intersections of Sprigg and LaCruz streets to wait for the highway patrol.

Shortly after 6:30 p.m., a caravan of cars with ATF agents, a state fire marshal and the highway patrol's bomb trailer pulled up to the pit.

Almost an hour and a half later, a bomb technician yelled, "Fire in the hole!" There was a dull thud.

The controlled explosion caused no injuries. Some of the unknown substance in the liquid was saved for further analysis, Simmons said.

Neither the man who brought the explosive device to the police station nor the man who allegedly gave it to him were taken into custody, Kinnison said.

"It's not a crime to report a bomb to the police," he said.

No charges will be filed pending further investigation, Kinnison said.

On Jan. 19 last year, the highway patrol bomb squad detonated a pipe bomb that was located on the west bank of the Mississippi River near the Bill Emerson Bridge construction site.