Police Detonate 2 Pipe Bombs Found in Tujunga Home

Two pipe bombs found inside the garage of a Tujunga home were detonated early Sunday by Los Angeles police officers, knocking down power lines and scattering debris for hundreds of feet, authorities said.

No one was injured in the blast, but dozens of neighbors who had been evacuated from their homes were kept away for several hours during the night.

Police said the pipe bombs were found at the home of a local artist a short time after officers had gone to the home in response to a report of an illegal drug lab.

No drugs or drug-making equipment were recovered after an anonymous call Saturday evening led authorities to the home in the 10000 block of Plainview Avenue, police said.

But after officers left the scene, the man who lives in the home, Martin Vogel, noticed a strong chemical smell and discovered what appeared to be two pipe bombs lying amid six liquid-filled jars in a box in his garage.

Vogel called 911. Officers returned to his home about 9 p.m. and evacuated dozens of neighbors before LAPD bomb squad members detonated the devices about 3:30 a.m.

Neighbors said the blast blew a hole in the wall of Vogel’s garage, knocked down overhead power lines and scattered debris for hundreds of feet.

“We thought it was a really bad prank until we heard the boom,” said Holly Hunter, Vogel’s girlfriend.

She and Vogel and many of their neighbors heard the blast from about two blocks away, where yellow police tape kept anxious neighbors from their homes.

“You heard that blast and you had no doubt that this thing was real,” said Dean Neiswanger, who was on his way home Saturday night when he came upon the police blockade.

A spokeswoman for the city Department of Water and Power said the downed lines were secondary sources of power, providing electricity to 10 homes. Power was restored by 5:15 Sunday morning, she said.

Mike Partain, an LAPD spokesman, said police were initially called to Vogel’s house to assist the Los Angeles Fire Department, which was responding to a report of an underground methamphetamine lab being operated in the garage. Partain said police have no suspects or motive in the case.

Vogel, however, said he told detectives he suspects a former business partner. Partain declined to comment on that assertion.

Vogel, 33, uses a wheelchair to paint, rigging the wheels to evenly distribute paint as he rolls across the canvas. He lost the use of his legs in a motorcycle accident in 1986.

He said he was showing his work at an art show Saturday evening when he got a call from a friend informing him that the police were at his house.

Arriving home, he said, he was briefly detained and questioned about an alleged methamphetamine lab. He said he gave officers the keys to the garage and they searched it. A short time later, they came back out, returned his keys and left.

After the officers departed, Vogel said, he noticed that a side door to the garage appeared to have been forced open. He went in and followed what he described as a strong chemical smell to its source in the corner of the garage.

There, he found the two pipe bombs and liquid-filled jars in a soggy cardboard beer box.

“It was pretty wild smelling stuff, pretty potent,” Vogel said. “I don’t know how those guys missed it.”

Bomb squad investigators at the scene Sunday morning declined to discuss the case. Partain, the police spokesman, said he did not know what type of substance was in the jars.

Vogel said he was not only frightened by the pipe bombs, but embarrassed as well.

“Now I’m worried about what all my neighbors are gonna think,” he said. “You know . . . ‘Who is this guy involved with?’ ”