Wyandotte Police are working with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to investigate a homemade bomb recovered from a traffic stop on Wednesday.
Wyandotte Police Chief Archie Hamilton told the Detroit Free Press officers stopped a van near Vinewood and 9th streets for a license plate violation and other minor infractions around 10:40 p.m. on Wednesday.
As officers spoke with two men inside, they noticed unspecified “indicators” that led them to believe “something doesn’t fit,” Hamilton said.
Those suspicions were confirmed with “inconsistencies” in the men’s story that ultimately led the officers to a homemade bomb in the vehicle. The device was wrapped in duct tape, and an x-ray of the bomb showed it was packed with shrapnel, WXYZ reports.
“This type of explosive device is designed to do one thing – kill or injure people. Shrapnel is designed to increase the lethality of the device; therefore, it can be safely assumed that their intent was malicious,” Wyandotte Police posted to Facebook.
“However, this device will never hurt anyone due to the outstanding police work by Officer Tyler Groat, Officer Rasmussen, and Officer Saltsman. Additionally, we must thank the excellent work by the Dearborn Police Department’s Bomb Squad who quickly assisted our officers.”
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In addition to the bomb, officers also recovered a small amount of cocaine, WDIV reports.
Hamilton told The Detroit News the two men were ages 31 and 36, but would not reveal where they were from or any potential motivation for their alleged crime. The men were arrested for possession of an explosive device, possession of dangerous drugs, and possession of cocaine, but have not yet been arraigned.
Hamilton told the Free Press his department is now working with ATF on what remains an open investigation.
“We just want to make sure we do our due diligence to ensure the safety of the public,” he said. “When you see something like this, you want to make sure there’s no other actors involved. You want to make sure there’s no other planning involved by these individuals. So that’s what we’re doing right now.”
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As locals await more details, many weighed in on Facebook to heap praise on officers involved in Wyandotte, a town of about 25,000 roughly 11 miles south of Detroit on the Detroit River.
“Thanks God these officers were on their game and realized something wasn’t right,” Kathy SD posted. “Lives surely were to be lost.”
“A lot of departments have policies against pretextual stops,” Greg Robert added. “Glad some departments still do police work.”
“I cannot express enough my appreciation for our Wyandotte Police Department. Our officers our continually doing exceptional community policing and this is just the latest example,” Sean Hobbs posted. “The reason that Wyandotte is a great place to live is because of the fine work you all do. My family and I wish to express our gratitude.”