Homemade pipe bomb injures two in Ingleside

Two men remain hospitalized with serious injuries after the pipe-bomb they were building exploded Saturday night.

Lake County Sheriff’s police say the homemade pipe-bomb exploded around 6:30 p.m. Saturday night inside a barn on the 3300 block of Wilson Road.

Kristopher Carlson, 20, of Ingleside and Frank Dumelle, 19, of Round Lake were injured during the blast, police said.

“We don’t think they are radical terrorists,” said Sgt. Timothy Jonites of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. “It was just two kids, we think, experimenting. We don’t think there was a target.”

Carlson was taken to Centegra Hospital in McHenry in critical condition before being transported to a Rockford burn center with injuries to his face and chest after the bomb exploded in his face, Jonites said.

Dumelle was left deaf after the explosion and was being treated at the same burn center in Rockford in serious condition, police said.

The explosion, which was heard a quarter-mile from the barn, caused extensive damage to the barn and lit a portion of the structure on fire, Jonites said.

“The only evidence on the scene appeared they were only making one at the time,” Jonites said.

Dumelle told authorities that he and Carlson had put gunpowder in a PVC pipe and were attempting to hammer a metal cap onto the end of the pipe when the explosion occurred.

“Gun powder is very, very unstable as it is,” Jonites said.

Police said the men were planning to detonate the bomb at a bonfire party at the barn later that night to entertain guests.

Neither man has a violent criminal record or any serious prior arrests, according to police.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is continuing their investigation into the explosion, but are not sure if charges will be filed, Jonites said.

The bomb was completely destroyed during the blast, but a one-inch in diameter piece of PVC piping was found in the barn leading police to believe improvised device was of same size pipe.