Dry ice bomb found in Elgin home's front yard

Elgin police Friday detonated a homemade explosive device made out of an unlikely substance - dry ice.

According to police reports, a woman discovered the bomb - a plastic bottle with chunks of dry ice - at 8:30 a.m. in the front yard of her house in the 100 block of North Liberty Street.

The woman took the bomb inside, not knowing it was an explosive, and it began to expand, with smoke seeping out from the top, reports said.

At that point, she took the device outside and her husband, after discovering on the Internet that it was a bomb, phoned police and the Elgin Fire Department.

After testing to make sure there were no objects in the bottle that could be potential shrapnel, an officer detonated the bomb.

Nobody was injured, nor was there any property damage, after the bomb went off.

Police said they run into these sorts of bombs once in a blue moon.

"It's pretty rare, but we do come across them occasionally," said Elgin Police Deputy Chief Jeff Swoboda.

Reports said the bottle had a small amount of liquid inside the same color as apple juice and that there was no obvious odor. The bottle had a label reading, "Sidral mundet," with a picture of an apple.

It's hard to say how powerful these bombs are, because it depends on how big they are, Swoboda said.

Police have launched an investigation and while they have made no arrests, they did find fingerprints on the bottle. Police encourage residents to phone them if they find similar bombs in the area.

The person responsible for the prank could face felony charges once apprehended, including possession of an explosive device and unlawful use of a weapon, Swoboda said.

"People who do this get in a lot of trouble," he said.