PRESCOTT, Wis. — A small bomb was found down the road from the post office in Prescott, Wisconsin on Sunday morning, according to police.
At approximately 9:55 a.m., dispatch contacted the Prescott Police Department about a "suspicious object" located on the side of Campbell Street.
"One side of the road is the school and a church and the other side is a pretty busy convenience store, post office and lots of residential houses and there's a lot of kids in that area," Prescott Police Chief Eric Michaels said.
Police evacuated the area. Emily Beardmore had to leave her home and said, "Somebody called it in and said they saw wires coming out of it this morning. So I didn't think anything of it really until they made us leave for five hours."
Jeff Swanson, who also evacuated the area, added, "It was just red. It looked like a small tube like almost a leather bag."
By 1:20 p.m. the St. Paul Police Department's Bomb Squad arrived and confirmed the object was an improvised explosive device (IED).
While disabling the bomb, Chief Michaels said it launched over the fence onto the nearby track at Malone Intermediate School.
"They walked across and laid down for about 15 minutes—the guy in the full suit—and then he threw a thumbs up, took his suit off. I'm sure he was hot. And that was pretty much it," said Mason Fahey, who lives across the street from the school.
Neighbors were allowed back into their homes later that afternoon. Chief Michaels said they will send the IED to the state crime lab to process it. He plans on also reaching out to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Chief Michaels said they don't know the intent of the bomb maker but investigators are exploring all angles, one of them being how close it was to the post office.
"Just to have something like that laying around whether it was put there on purpose or somebody was messing around and dropped it there, it doesn't matter. It's pretty disturbing," Chief Michaels said.
If you have any information that could help the investigation, contact the Prescott Police Department.