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September 24, 2010 (Rancho San Diego) – The pipe bomb that severely injured Connie Hoagland, 52, on via Hacienda in Rancho San Diego yesterday was not the first such device to be found in the neighborhood. Two other pipe bombs have been reportedly found at an elementary school just blocks away within the past four years, including one that a neighbor claims exploded in August.
While authorities aren’t saying whether they believe any of these cases are linked, officials launched a swift multi-agency response and issued broad evacuations while combing the neighborhood for clues over several hours.
Channel 8 News reports that neighbors say a pipe bomb detonated at Rancho San Diego Elementary school on August 30th of this year. http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=13209148. (An ECM search of news archives has been unable to confirm this incident. However posts by parents in comments at other news sites appear to confirm the neighbors' story.)
Back on June 2, 2006, the Union-Tribune reported that the sheriff's bomb and arson squad took possession of a live, 6-inch pipe bomb that a 15-year-old boy found on a sidewalk in front of Rancho San Diego Elementary School on Calle Albara near Avenida Apollinaria. The teen reportedly walked with it for several blocks to his home on Calle Lorenzana, where his parents called the Sheriff’s Department. No one was injured and no arrest was made.
The 2006 bomb was made with a small construction pipe with both ends crimped, filled with an explosive material and had a fuse sticking out of one end, Sheriff's Sgt. Rose Kurupas said, according to the Union-Tribune story. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060602/news_2m2ecrime.html
Authorities have declined to comment on whether these cases may be related.
The victim of yesterday’s bombing lives in Rolando, just blocks from where yet another pipe bomb was tossed out a car window and detonated by the bomb squad on September 9. Authorities are reportedly looking into whether there is a connection.
While most pipe bombs target specific victims, some have targeted public facilities. In 1992, a large pipe bomb was removed from a water pipe on Proctor Valley Road in Bonita and detonated by authorities, the Los Angeles Times reported. http://articles.latimes.com/1992-06-23/local/me-874_1_pipe-bomb
Three people pled guilty to a May 2008 pipe bombing of a federal courthouse in downtown San Diego; charges included conspiracy and using a weapon of mass destruction: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Courthouse-Bomber-Pleads-Guil...
Some neighbors last night complained of what they suggested was an over-reaction by authorities, who prevented residents from entering and leaving the area for several hours. But authorities may have been playing it safe due to concerns over the potential for other bombs in the vicinity—particularly given the proximity to a school that has reportedly been a recent target of other pipe bomb incidents.
Nationally, multiple pipe bombs have been used in attacks at other schools. The shooters in the Columbine Massacre had placed pipe bombs and other explosives in several locations on campus. http://www.slate.com/id/2216050/ In 2009, a student at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo was arrested after strapping eight home-made pipe bombs onto his body; two explosions rocked the school, forcing evacuations. http://www.ktvu.com/news/20531360/detail.html
Creation of a pipe bomb is a risky undertaking. A teen bomb-maker in North Babylon, New York accidentally blew off a hand, http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=eb1_1254294324 while a 21-year-old in a Chicago suburb was decapitated by his home-made pipe bomb; family believed the latter incident may have been a suicide. http://www.channel3000.com/news/25014305/detail.html
The victim in yesterday’s Rancho San Diego bombing remains hospitalized at UCSD’s burn center, where she reportedly underwent surgery. Family and friends have said they believe it’s unlikely that anyone would wish to harm Hoagland, a day care worker and member of Skyline Church who was on her way home from work when she turned the key in the ignition and her pickup truck blew up. Authorities evacuated dozens of homes and the Red Cross established an evacuation center at Cuyamaca College.
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