UPDATE Tuesday, April 12, 11:30am | Dry ice was not involved in the making of a small explosive device that went off Sunday afternoon, causing a Long Beach police officer to suffer minor injuries, police said.
It was previously reported that Long Beach Police Department officers who were investigating a call for service regarding what the caller described as possible fireworks activity in an alleyway near Bort Street and Butler Avenue came across a suspicious bag emitting smoke just after noon on Sunday that exploded as they approached.
Police initially described the device as a crude dry-ice bomb. But LBPD officials are now saying that dry ice was not a component of the explosive, though they declined to identify the exact composition of the device.
LBPD Sgt. Rico Fernandez did state that the device was “not a high-tech IED,” or improvised explosive device, according to the Press-Telegram. He also said that it did not appear to have been controlled remotely.
Federal agents with the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have joined the ongoing probe into the incident and the search for the suspect or suspects responsible for planting the device.
The injured officer was not hurt badly and reportedly returned to work Monday.
Monday, April 11, 11:45am | A Long Beach Police Department officer was hurt Sunday afternoon when a suspicious device the officer was investigating exploded, police said.
LBPD officers responded to a call for service a bit past noon Sunday in an alleyway near the 91 (Artesia) Freeway after neighbors called 911 to report what they believed to be fireworks being set off in the alley near the intersection of Bort Street and Butler Avenue.
As the officers searched the alley, they spotted what appeared to be smoke coming from a plastic bag, which momentarily exploded, according to the LBPD.
One of the officers suffered minor injuries from the explosion, police said.
Residents in the surrounding area were temporarily evacuated when a third, similar device was discovered on the other side of the alley. The L..A. County Sheriff’s Department’s bomb squad was called in to detonate the third device, which was determined to not be an explosive device.
The home-made devices turned out to be dry-ice bombs, which are made using a plastic bottle, dry ice and water. Pressure builds inside the bottle as the solid carbon dioxide warms and sublimates to a gaseous state, increasing the pressure in the bottle until it ruptures in what is referred to as a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion, which can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 30 minutes, according to “The First Responder’s Field Guide to Hazmat and Terrorism Emergency Response.”
Making, possessing or planting dry-ice bombs is a felony in the state of California as per California Penal Code Sections 12301 – 12316.
No immediate arrests were made, police said
The LBPD continues to investigate who made and planted the crude bombs.