‘Ice Bombs’ Explode in Parking Lot

Two “dry-ice bombs” placed beneath a pickup truck in a parking lot exploded when they were kicked out from under it, but did no harm, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Friday.

The bomb squad is investigating the incident which occurred about 10:15 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot of a Hughes supermarket on Bouquet Canyon Road in Saugus. “It sounded like a car backfiring, only much louder,” said Shannon Bohte(CQ), a service manager at Hughes.

Bohte said the truck belonged to Chris Mayberry, 19, of Santa Clarita, a box boy at the market. The devices were discovered when Travis Ivey, a fellow Hughes employee, parked his vehicle next to Mayberry’s and heard a hissing noise.

“He looked down and saw the bottles under the vehicle,” said Lt. Tom Spencer of the sheriff’s bomb squad.

Ivey alerted Mayberry. “They kicked the bottles and they rolled out into the parking lot and that’s where they detonated,” Spencer said.

On Friday, it was still unclear whether Mayberry--who could not be reached for comment--was the target of the devices or the victim of a dangerous prank, investigators said.

“They were pretty lucky, it was all a matter of timing,” said Deputy Tim Wainscott, a bomb squad investigator. “These devices have injured people in the past. They could have exploded as they put the boot to them.”

No suspects have been identified, authorities said.

“These ice bombs are felonies,” Wainscott said. “There are mandatory prison terms of three years for anyone who is convicted of making them.”