MANSFIELD, Ohio–A portion of South Main Street was shut down Tuesday evening after a suspected bomb was found at Sar Shalom Messianic Congregation Church, 1650 S. Main St. However, further investigation identified the device was not be a bomb.
According to Maj. Joe Masi, the Richland County Sheriff’s Office received a call around 6:50 p.m. Tuesday from a member of the church saying they had located what they thought was a pipe bomb at the church.
The device was found in a stairwell near the west parking lot. The person who found the device gave it to another person who opened the device. When the device was opened, black charcoal came out and it was stuffed with a green cleaning pad. The lid was put back on the device and it was placed on a picnic table about 15 feet from the church.
According to the sheriff’s report, the person advised that they opened the device because “he works for ODOT and has some training in recognizing explosive devices.”
When sheriff’s deputies arrived, they determined that the device was about 1 foot long and was made of one inch PVC pipe with caps on both ends. Deputies evacuated the church and contacted the Highway Patrol to block off South Main Street. The Ashland County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad was called to investigate and they detonated the device around 9 p.m.
According to the report, the rabbi at the church advised that the youth group had made water filtration devices about a month ago and this device may have been left over from that.
Evidence was collected and submitted to the crime lab.
