The Bentonville Bomb Squad disposed of a "homemade explosive device" Saturday afternoon in rural Washington County.
Bomb squad commander Russell Hinds, a sergeant with the Bentonville police department, said his team disassembled the device and sent it to be analyzed. He would not give details about what the device was made of, nor how big it was.
"It definitely could have killed or caused serious injuries to anyone close to it," Hinds said.
Two brother, Michael and Justin Huey, said they heard something loud while the Bomb Squad was on the scene.
"We were quite a ways back but we were building a fence we heard two explosions go off," said Justin Huey.
Michael Huey said, "It sounded like a gun going off, it wasn't really loud but my mom says contained, something made it quieter."
A man fishing along Kettle Springs Road saw what he thought was a suspicious item in the water and called Washington County deputies, said Kelly Cantrell of the Washington County Sheriff's Office. The deputies who responded then called for the bomb squad around 3 p.m.
Kettle Springs Road is off Highway 212 in the area between Prairie Grove and West Fork. Officials said the bomb was in the water near a bridge spanning a shallow creek.
The brothers said this unusual event in their quiet neighborhood sent shock waves to their family especially after what happened in Boston.
"I didn't think it would be out here after that one bombing," said Michael Huey.
Hinds said the bomb squad receives about three calls a month regarding suspicious devices and, over the course of a year, about half turn out to be improvised explosive devices, a term Hinds used to describe the one found Saturday. Hinds said his unit has responded to 12 calls this year and expects the general public is more aware after the recent bombings at the Boston Marathon.
"We're sensitive to it," Hinds said. "The general public and law enforcement will be more sensitive."