Several loud explosions heard in North Greenwood on Sunday evening were caused by someone shooting targets, said farmer Billy Whittington, who owns the property where the incident occurred.
“They were shooting some exploding targets too late at night and making too much noise,” Whittington said, “and I told them not to do it before, but that’s what they were doing.”
Steven Farmer, who lives on Grand Boulevard, said he was in his home when he heard the explosions.
“I was just sitting watching TV, and it about hit 10 p.m., and I heard this loud boom,” he said. “I live in an old house; the windows shook, then I heard another loud boom, rapid gunfire, then heard another boom.”
Farmer said the noise was the loudest thing he had ever heard. “I had a transformer blow up in my yard this morning; scared me because I said, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on now?’” he said. “But those things are really loud, but it wasn’t as loud as that I heard last night.”
The thunderous noises caught the attention of the entire neighborhood.
Farmer said he saw several police cars going down Grand Boulevard and saw posts on Facebook mentioning that the incident had occurred near Money Road, so he got into his truck and followed to check on a friend who lived in the area.
“A lot of police out there, and they had the guy they thought had done it,” he said. “Really wasn’t anything after that. Just a lot of police. He was just back there blowing up Tannerite, they said. Just wasn’t a very good idea.”
Tannerite is a brand of exploding targets.
Farmer said Facebook chatter incorrectly indicated the explosions were targeted at beaver dams.
Whittington said that beaver dam destruction is a common occurrence on his land but that the Sunday night incident was rather just “recreational fun” that shouldn’t have been going on then. He said it wasn’t unusual except for its time and place.
He was also disturbed and awakened by the loud bangs, and “by the time I decided to go investigate, it had quit, and I wanted to go back to sleep,” he said.
Whittington said people shoot firearms on his land all the time, but he isn’t aware of it happening so close to the city. “I don’t know if it’s the first time or not,” he said. “We have a range out here; we shoot firearms, go hunting. There are lots of firearms that are fired out here. Not too far from where he was shooting, but we don’t do it at 10 o’clock at night, and we don’t shoot exploding targets that make a lot of noise at night.”
He said people shouldn’t be shooting in that area.
“It’s out in the country, but it’s too close to town,” he said. “It’s 10 o’clock at night. These are legal exploding targets he’s shooting with a gun, and that’s what he was doing. Just too late at night, too noisy, too late to be doing it then, and it was keeping everybody up including me.”
It is uncertain whether any arrests were made in connection with these explosions. Sheriff Ricky Banks was unavailable for comment.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
