Surf City Police: ‘Suspicious device destroyed, area safe’

SURF CITY, NC (WWAY) — Officials with the Surf City Police Department investigated a bomb threat this afternoon; a bomb unit from Wilmington Police also assisted in the incident.

Police said they were called to a home on the 1800 block North New River Drive when an employee with Century 21 found a suspicious device inside the home just before 12:30 p.m. The employee said the tenants had recently moved out and she was securing the home.

A two-block area was evacuated. The bomb unit with the WPD were on scene just before 2:00 p.m. and destroyed the device. At an empty lot nearby, the remnants of a detonated device were found.

A neighbor, Marty Martin, who lived across the street said his wife was evacuated from the home. He said he was with his wife when they heard a large boom.

“It’s kinda unusual for something like this to go,” said Martin, “It’s pretty scary really.”

Martin couldn’t go home because of the evacuation. Instead, he and his wife went to a local hangout, “Trailer Bar,” just down the road.

That is where he heard the explosion along with one of the bars employees.

“It went off and the hair stood up on my arms,” said Kathy Schmidt, a bartender, “and the customers, all of us, were like scared.”

No word on any charges in the investigation.