Bombs Mailed to Chula Vista Man Are Disarmed

Police evacuated a neighborhood surrounding the home of a federal employee who received a package containing two pipe bombs in the mail Saturday, the third such incident in the San Diego area in as many days.

The bombs did not go off when the man opened the package at 4:28 p.m. Saturday, said Sgt. Tom Keblish. “When he opened it, he realized it was a pipe bomb and threw it down on the bed,” he said.

The package contained two pipe bombs, both of which were disarmed without any injuries. Sgt. Conrad Grayson of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad said the devices were sophisticated and could have blown out the inside of the house.

Federal agencies in California were placed on alert.

The bombs appeared to have been assembled by the same person who built two other bombs and mailed them Thursday and Friday.

One went to the San Diego FBI office and was detonated in the parking lot. The second was sent to a waste treatment company, and authorities disarmed it. There were no injuries.

“This guy is 0-for-3 so far,” Keblish said.

The bombs were the same size and made from the same materials.

The man who received the bombs Saturday is a 45-year-old white federal employee. Keblish did not know which agency the man works for or why he was targeted. The man has no idea why anyone would send him a bomb, Keblish said.

Authorities disarmed the pipe bombs inside the man’s house because of the populated area surrounding the home. Twelve nearby houses were evacuated.

Authorities could not explain why the bombs didn’t explode when the package was opened.