Bombs in Lillington yard under investigation

Walter Pinson said he was at home late Friday when he heard "a kaboom" outside. Neighbors also must have heard the blast, he said, because he saw everyone's lights come on when he looked out a window to find out what happened.

When he went outside to investigate, he said, he found the remains of a plastic two-liter soda bottle and other debris in his front yard.

"Living out here, I didn't think that it was a bomb," he said. "Then, I smelled it and I was on the phone with the dispatcher, and she said, 'Mr. Pinson, back up and get away from it.' Then, I realized (that) someone had gone and thrown a bomb in my yard."

Shortly after Harnett County deputies arrived at his house to investigate, a second bomb went off in the back yard, Pinson said.

Investigators said the culprits created chemical-reaction bombs by mixing pieces of aluminum foil and a cleaning agent inside the soda bottles.

The Harnett County Sheriff's Office has consulted with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on the case, but no charges had been filed in the case as of Monday afternoon.

Pinson said he thinks the bombs might be payback for a confrontation he had with neighbors after putting signs in front of his home on Halloween that trick-or-treaters weren't allowed. Or, he said, it could be backlash for his support of President Barack Obama.

"I heard someone (tell deputies), 'You take the Obama signs out of his yard, no one would blow him up,'" he said.

Neighbors said they believe youths pulling a prank are responsible for the incident, but Pinson said he hopes investigators crack the case before someone gets hurt.