AIexpress – Tracks in the snow led police to an explosive device on a train car on New Year’s Day, which stopped all train traffic for hours.
Someone reported seeing “a suspicious person” trying to set something on fire near a parked railroad car in the 600 Block of North 8th Street in Payette. This was sent to the Payette Police Department.
When police arrived at the scene just before 6 p.m., they saw fresh footprints going to a train car with what the Payette Police Department called a “suspected undetonated improvised explosive device,” or IED.
The explosive was a “pipe bomb-style device” made of polyvinyl chloride plastic, according to Payette Police Chief Gary Marshall. It was found on a step that led to the outside of the train car.
Police say that more tracks led to a camp trailer parked next to a house in the 600 block. Police say they caught 40-year-old Payette resident Brent Sharrai after a short foot chase.
The Nampa Police Department and one FBI agent were among the first police officers to arrive at the scene to help deal with the bomb.
The Payette Police Department said, “The Nampa Bomb Squad used their specialized robot to remove the IED from the train car and then detonated it to make it safe.”
Police said they told Union Pacific Railroad about the situation, and for five hours, all trains that were supposed to go through the area were put on hold.
According to court records, Sharrai was first put into the Payette County Jail on warrants for recent misdemeanors.
A warrant was used to search the trailer where he was living, and police said they found “items similar to the device found on the train car” along with drugs and drug paraphernalia.
In the end, Sharrai was charged with felony possession of a destructive device, felony possession of a controlled substance, drug paraphernalia, and fighting arrest, all of which are felonies.
Police in Payette said that the person will face more federal charges of having and making a destructive device while the FBI finishes its probe.
Sharrai said that he was only trying to make a big explosion or boom, which Marshall agreed with. His words showed that he had no plans to hurt anyone or damage property.
Marshall said the FBI got involved “because of the state of the nation” and recent terrorist attacks in other parts of the country, such as the attack in New Orleans on Wednesday in which someone drove through a crowd of people after setting off bombs nearby.
Marshall said, “Something like this comes up, and there’s worry that it’s something similar.”
At this point, the police chief said, they don’t think Sharrai was working with other people.
According to Marshall, the suspect in this case did not say or show anything that would connect him to any terrorist group.
