Messer Street apartment house target of bottle bomb filled with nails

Police are seeking to determine who tossed an exploding bottle bomb at a building housing three apartments at 95 Messer Street on Monday night.

Officers Jeff Wholley and Ben Black responded to a report at 9:10 p.m. that someone had thrown a bomb at the apartment house and arrived to find a bottle filled with nails at the scene. No one was injured and the building was not damaged.

Captain Mike Moyer said that teenagers have been experimenting with bottle bombs during the past year and a half. "There are instructions on how to make them on the Internet," he said. "We've had calls because they do make a lot of noise, but they usually set them off in the woods and try not to cause damage."

However, Moyer said that "we think this particular building was targeted," adding that the nails in the bottle indicated an intent to cause injury or damage. "This is the first bottle bomb that was targeted that I can recall," he said.

Moyer said that police were interviewing several individuals in connection with the incident and urged anyone with information that could further the investigation to contact the police at 524-5252 or the Great Laconia Crime Line at 524-1717.