Police: Exploded soda bottle found at Franklin Woods, playground deemed safe
FRANKLIN -- Why? Why? Why? That's the repeated question after a plastic soda bomb went off near the new Kayla's Playground at Franklin Woods early on Friday, October 9th.
This incident happened on the day that Kayla's Playground is set for a ribbon cutting ceremony. The plastic bottle bombs were found a couple hundred feet away, but close enough to be concerning.
Kayla's Playground
Just after midnight Friday, the Franklin Woods Nature Center was filled with law enforcement including Milwaukee County's bomb squad. A Franklin officer patrolling the area heard a loud noise -- it was a plastic bottle bomb explosion.
"It was determined that the bottle had exploded under pressure. A subsequent search of the woods revealed additional plastic soda bottles with unknown contents strewn along a path in the woods," said Franklin Police Chief Rick Olida.
The good news: after searching the area of the adjacent, newly constructed Kayla's Playground, no bottle bombs were found and no damage was done.
Kayla Runte
Kayla's Playground has been a community project, inspired by Kayla Runtee -- a bright young girl with cerebral palsy who passed away in 2012. The playground consists of equipment usable by both able and disabled people.
"1,800 people worked on this playground. One, or a small number of people are not going to slow that down," said Franklin Mayor Steven Olson.
Franklin Mayor Steven Olson vowed the ribbon cutting planned for about 17 hours after the explosion, will proceed.
"I'm not going to let it affect the city of Franklin in a negative way," said Mayor Olson.
The contents of the plastic bottles will be analyzed by the crime lab. The police chief says bottle bombs are highly explosive.
"It can cause some extreme danger. Anybody near it, it could cause damage to the person's eyes, limbs. It could cause damage to property," said Chief Olida.
But why would someone even do this?
"I don't consider it a prank. It's a very serious crime. I don't know the motivation for someone doing something like that. It's destructive and it's dangerous," said Chief Olida.
The Franklin police chief says once the suspect is caught he hopes there will be severe consequences.
If you have any information about the incident, or if you are in the area and see a plastic soda bottle, don't pick it up -- you are asked to call the Franklin Police Department at 414-425-2522.
The ribbon cutting for Kayla's Playground took place at 5:30 p.m. Friday evening and helped put a positive spin on a negative incident.
Kayla's Playground ribbon cutting ceremony
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