Pipe bomb found near Goldsboro

The North Carolina Highway Patrol said it was a pipe bomb.

An inmate work crew from Wayne Correctional Facility found the pipe bomb on the shoulder of the highway, near Goldsboro, around 2 p.m., authorities said. 

After traffic was diverted from the area, Jeff Smith, who lives near the scene, said the area has never been so quiet.

And then -- a loud bang.

"It just sounded like a shotgun going off or a rifle," Smith said. He believes that's when authorities detonated the bomb.

Just before Christmas, he said, he found fragments of what he believes was another pipe bomb in his front yard.

"I found some pieces of one that had been detonated in my yard," Smith said. "Just a small piece of pipe that had been shredded apart."

He said he turned those fragments over to the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, who investigated the incident Monday.

Along with the sheriff's office, Wayne County Fire Marshals, Highway Patrol, Explosive Ordnance Disposal team from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were all called to the scene.

The investigation of how the pipe bomb got there is ongoing.