Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man found a type of incendiary device in his van that police say was designed to ignite when he turned his car on.
The device did not work, but now Salt Lake police are looking for whomever planted it.
About 9:30 a.m. Monday, a man got into his van at 557 S. 600 West. He started the engine, but then noticed an "incendiary device ... with the purpose to start a fire once the engine started," said Salt Lake fire spokesman Jasen Asay.
He said the device was likely intended to start a fire as opposed to create a large explosion. Although the device did not work, Lt. Carl Merino with the Salt Lake City Police Department said investigators believe it was real.
The obvious intent is to harm somebody, or to probably kill somebody, so we're concerned about someone who would put a device in a car not sure of who would start it.
–Lt. Carl Merino
"The obvious intent is to harm somebody, or to probably kill somebody, so we're concerned about someone who would put a device in a car not sure of who would start it," Merino said. "You have to assume on something like this that whoever put it there knew the person and had some disagreement with them."
Asay declined to give details about what kind of device was found. Investigators were interviewing the van owner Tuesday to find out if he had been threatened lately and were following up on a couple of leads, Asay said.
Merino said the bomb squad responds to about 60–70 calls a year, but finding devices like the one found Tuesday is uncommon.
Contributing: Devon Dolan
