SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) - An explosion Thursday shattered windows at a synagogue and Jewish school and sent a 300-pound pipe into the roof of a house where a child was sleeping, prompting police to evacuate several blocks before experts determined that the blast was caused by an accident, not a bomb.
The explosion next to the Chabad House Lubavitch of Santa Monica "was not terrorist-related at all and appears to be some kind of industrial accident," fire Capt. Mark Bridges said. No injuries were reported.
Someone was trying to remove a large pipe that was stuck in concrete near an alley but the chemical mixture they used created pressure and launched the 4-foot-long pipe and plug of concrete into the air, Bridges said.
"The device lifted up off the ground approximately 25 feet, punched a hole in the (Chabad House) and then ricocheted," Bridges said.
Authorities arrived to find the pipe sticking out of a hole in the roof of a house next door.
"There was a child that was sleeping almost under where the device landed on the roof, but fortunately it didn't break through the rafters," Bridges said.
Inspectors planned to talk to the person who was doing the work behind the house, Bridges said.
About 100 people were evacuated from a four-block area for more than five hours while FBI and Los Angeles County sheriff's bomb experts investigated.