ROXBORO, N.C. (WNCN) – A surveyor doing some work Monday located several suspicious devices in a wooded-area near Roxboro, which were later confirmed to be pipe bombs, the Person County Sheriff’s Office said.
The surveyor was working in an area off Lucy Garrett Road when they found the devices.
The Person County Sheriff’s Office called in the bomb squad from Durham County for assistance and later determined the devices were homemade pipe bombs.
A total of 30 bombs were found at the scene – all of them have been destroyed.
“They were not armed where they were ready to fire but they could have been armed very quickly,” Sheriff Dewey Jones said.
The bomb squad helped sweep a one-mile radius in search of more devices.
Authorities have been on scene in the woods since Monday. Home nearby were evacuated but those residents have since been allowed back home.
The Person County Sheriff’s Office hopes to have the scene cleared by noon Wednesday.
Officials have a suspect but they have not been arrested.
The Person County sheriff said there is no evidence that person of interest had any malicious intent with the devices, characterized the man as a “preparing for doomsday type of person.”
“All of these are homemade devices. He very much had a lot of knowledge on what he was doing and how he was doing it,” Jones said.
The FBI is helping with the case.