Possible pipe bomb carried into Daytona Beach Shores resort

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. – A possible pipe bomb was found in Daytona Beach Shores on Thursday evening, public safety officials said.

Authorities responded to 3647 South Atlantic Ave. before 5 p.m. to investigate and evacuated the area after someone found a white, pipe-like object in the sand.

Daytona Beach Shores police said after the person found the device on the beach, they took it inside the Sunglow Resort before calling 911. 

A nearby resident, David Murry, said the area was blocked off for hours.

"Definitely could have done some damage had it been a real bomb that had gone off," Murry said. "Fortunately, it wasn't."

Murry said he tried to check into the resort around 5 p.m. Thursday, but ran into A1A blocked off with yellow crime scene tape and the bomb squad investigating.

"They wouldn't say what it was," Murray said. "They said, 'We have an incident.'"

"(It) probably drifted in with the high tides and a resident at the hotel behind us picked it up and took it into the hotel," Daytona Beach Shores safety director Stephan Dembinsky said. "Not the smartest thing I would have thought to do."

Police said this is not the first device that has washed up on shore. The last incident was a military flare the U.S. Air Force had dropped.

"It's the second time in three days," Dembinsky said. "This is very, very unusual, but I know it's been a full moon and high tides. This looks to me like a homemade explosive device."

News 6 was there as police removed the possible pipe bomb. People in the area said investigators did what they needed to do.

"I'd rather take the time to make sure it's nothing, and just go in there and say it's OK and then have a problem," Murry said. "I'd rather them be safe on that end than be sorry."

The device was taken in to be X-rayed and examined.

Police said anyone who sees something similar wash up on the shore should not touch the device and call 911.