Posted on 12/09/2014 5:11:58 AM PST by Gamecock
CLOVER — Two teenagers were arrested in Clover on Monday after police say the pair confessed to detonating a homemade cannon overnight.
Brandon Campbell, 18, and Justin Ghorley, 19, set off the cannon on the lawn of First United Methodist Church on Elizabeth Avenue around 3:30 a.m. on Monday, prompting several neighbors to call the police, said Lt. Tanner Davis with the Clover Police Department.
When officers arrived, they found debris and damage to the lawn “that appeared to have come from an explosion,” Davis said.
The investigation continued through the morning, and statements from neighbors led officers to a house where police say Campbell and Ghorley confessed to making and firing a cannon.
The cannon was made from welding a steel pipe onto a steel plate. They filled it with gunpowder and drilled a hole for a fuse, Davis said.
“The last time they used it, the plate shattered and came apart,” he said.
The explosion caused minor damage to the church’s lawn. Shrapnel was thrown around, so it was fortunate that no one was hurt, Davis said.
“It was a really bad choice,” Davis said. “They just thought it was cool, but it was really dangerous.”
Both Campbell and Ghorley were charged with two counts each of manufacturing explosives.
As of Monday afternoon, they were both being held at the York County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing.
Pillars of Society!
You are in a small town, why not just drive a mile or two and fire the thing off in a field.
I guess waking up half the town was part of the fun.
From the article, “It was a really bad choice, Davis said...”
Ya think?!
Mistake #1: Time of day. More folks will be out of their homes during the business hours than at 3 AM.
Mistake #2: Location. Doing anything that leaves a trace of evidence in one’s front lawn is just begging to be caught.
Mistake #3: Noise. It doesn’t take a high school education to understand when something’s going to go “boom.”
I would be under a jail for all the experiments I carried out. They should have picked a better place, however.
“The last time they used it, the plate shattered and came apart,” he said.
Then they grabbed an alligator and they fought another round...
I was their age back in the 70s. Shooting off a homemade cannon in town would have been just plain fun. I see this is being covered in the local Lancaster paper. That’s where it should stay.
Yes. They should just say it was a one cannon salute in honor of the two gentle giants.
This reminds me of a story by the humor writer Pat McManus entitled “Poof! No Eyebrows”.
As a child he and his friend Retch Sweeney built a home-made cannon and set it off at a golf course.
If I can find a link or something to the story, I’ll post it.
The “church’s” website: http://cloverfumc.org/
Wonder if these two geniuses would have pulled the same stunt on the front lawn of the local mosque (assuming there is one).
My brain is still a seething receptacle of fiendish devices, I watched every Mr. Wizard episode they made and tried every experiment in my Gilbert Chemistry set, and some they never thought of!
It’s fun until you trash the lawn of the UMC!
“Sorry about your dog.”
Same here, and I did fire a homemade cannon in our SW Portland neighborhood any number of times. Made my own black powder and packed paper wadding on top (never any projectile). It made a very loud noise, but did no damage, and nobody ever called the cops (at least for that).
Please, please send the cops to my house and take me and most of my high school friends away. We all tried to make gunpowder and various guns, including a 3/4” bore replica Civil War cannon I built and charged with match heads. Camping trips were always filled with happy stories about our experiments, none of which killed any of us. Indeed, before my TBA, I was a happy gun proliferator.
‘Bout 40 yearI worked in a machine shop with a crazy man as a boss. There was an 8 inch steel pipe standing on its end in the shop. He filled it was gas from the cutting torch, put a paper bag over the end with a small hole in it, then lit the torch and swung it past it. That thing went off and windows blew out, burglar alarms up and down the street went off, and in seconds the building was full of people looking to carry out the bodies. All I could say was HUH? Cause I couldnt hear a word, but no real damage was done. Dont know what the hell the boss told the cops but nothing happened to him for it.
Preferably at some headquarters of the UMC. :>)
Who’s worse, these guys or the “professionals” at Mythbusters?
http://www.cnet.com/news/mythbusters-cannonball-busts-through-house/
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