Teller County Sheriff’s Office investigating mailbox explosion
TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - The Teller County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) continues to investigate an explosion that destroyed a bank of four mailboxes.
The TCSO said that it finished gathering evidence from the scene late Thursday night and sent it to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for further analysis.
The TCSO said that just after 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, deputies responded to a reported explosion in a mailbox at the intersection of County Road 11 and High Chateau Road, near Wrights Reservoir in the Florissant area.
Deputies found a bank of four mailboxes used to contain oversized parcels destroyed when they arrived on the scene; pieces were scattered across High Chateau Road.
According to the TCSO, a detective assisted by the Metro Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Unit from Colorado Springs police, assisted in the investigation.
"You're working backwards," said Lt. Wes Welker, of the Sheriff's Office. "You're working from the event occurring, backwards -- trying to fill in all of those points of evidence and information. So, the first thing to establish is what was the device made of? Then, it's getting to the point of what was the actual device?"
It is not believed that the explosion was associated with a parcel delivery.;United States Postal inspectors have been notified and briefed on the event.
Authorities said that presently, there is no threat to the public; mail delivery and pickup continued as normal, with most people left more puzzled than fearful.
Some residents who spoke with KRDO13 on Friday still had not heard about the incident; others came to get their mail and didn't seem overly concerned.
Delsa and Todd Brown, married for 40 years, live nearest to the explosion scene.
"We were in the house watching TV when all of a sudden, a loud BOOM!" Delsa recalled. "It sounded like a propane tank blew up. About 15 minutes later, the police came to the door and told me (someome) had blown up the mailboxes out here. At first, I thought they blew them all up but it was only the cluster."
Todd said he first thought the walls on a garage he's building had fallen.
"As far as explosions go, I don't like them that close to myself, so... I didn't really appreciate it," he remarked.
The explosion was the talk of the town at the local gathering spot down the road -- the Evergreen Station -- where employee Tommi Stohl huddled with her three kids.
"It's crazy, especially for little Teller County," she said. "It's a small town, so I'd not expect it, I guess."
The TCSO said that it hasn't investigated a mystery like this since a series of arson fires that were set during a two-week period before the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire.
"We're going to wait and see if any similar explosions happen in the near future," Welker said. "That will give us a better idea of the kind of threat we're dealing with. We're also asking the public to remain alert and report anything suspicious."
He added that the county is not requesting assistance from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives because the incident doesn't rise to a necessary level of response.
