Pipe Bomb Found on Wildlife Management Area

First posted on 01-19-2012

A pipe bomb was found on the McIlroy Madison County Wildlife Management Area on Saturday, Jan. 14. The device was located on Madison County Road 1254 in northwest Arkansas.

A caller to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office notified authorities of the device. A wildlife officer from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission helped the sheriff’s deputy locate the bomb.

A bomb squad from the Bentonville Police Department disabled the 18-inch bomb using a water cannon. The object was made of PVC pipe with wooden fins, a nose cone and two eye hooks.

The bomb parts were collected as evidence by the sheriff’s office. The bomb was found a short distance off of the county road on an embankment. It appeared to be filled with gunpowder pellets, a shotgun shell and firing pin.

According to officers with the bomb squad, the device could have been set off by someone picking it up and could have been lethal up to 50 feet. The Madison County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating.