A Virginia property owner has placed a booby-trapped political sign on their property, eliciting a bomb squad response over the weekend – but police later revealed it’s perfectly legal.
The Loudon County resident placed a banner with an altered photo of Vice President Kamala Harris holding a sign that reads, “I helped create this mess!” Surrounding Harris’s image are the words, “Day one for me was Jan, 2021.”
But, the sign was booby-trapped with shotgun shells that one resident said seemed to be filled with gunpowder, local outlet Fox 5 reports.
A resident called the police on Saturday morning, concerned about “a device attached to tree with a fishing line” extending to the sign, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Media Relations and Communications Director Thomas Julia told The Independent.
Resident Charles King told Fox 5 he found the booby-trapped sign.
"I found the sign, I found a camera to take pictures of people near the sign, and a device in the woods that appeared to me to be an improvised explosive device," King told the outlet. "It looked homemade, made of shotgun shells and what appeared to be gunpowder."
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and Fire Marshal’s Office responded to the call, along with a bomb squad, according to Fox 5. But, they discovered the device was actually designed to make a loud noise when tampered with.
When asked to confirm if the device did indeed use shotgun shells, Julia said: “I believe it does.”
“While this is unusual, it is not illegal,” Julia told The Independent.
“We contacted the property owner who said he placed the audible device as a deterrent because signage had been disturbed there in the past,” Julia added.
The sheriff’s office suggested the owner place “No Trespassing” warnings near the sign, which they have since done, Fox 5 reports.
However, some residents are still concerned about the sign, as the community Homeowners Association is now involved in the case, Julia told The Independent.
