A U.S. Army bomb squad from Anchorage was dispatched to Ketchikan on Saturday to deal with two separate explosives discovered in the same area.
Ketchikan police executed a search warrant on April 23 at a U-Haul storage facility on North Tongass Highway near the Refuge Cove marina a few miles north of town. Ketchikan Police Chief Eric Mattson said it was part of a joint drug investigation into a 50-year-old local man named Joey Ellis Conn. Mattson said they raided multiple properties belonging to Conn and found nearly 60 grams of methamphetamine, fentanyl pills and powder, a digital scale, and some firearms.
“Also during that search, the detectives came across a pipe bomb that was discovered in the storage units right there, owned and run by the U-Haul,” Mattson said in a phone call. “That prompted a phone call to the feds, which we typically do to help with any type of explosive material.”
Mattson said they closed off the area and waited for federal explosive experts.
The following day though, a survey crew discovered a live grenade along the tideline at a beach nearby. They called it into the Alaska State Troopers.
“Troopers coordinated with getting the U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal unit from Anchorage down to Ketchikan. That just required both agencies – the troopers and KPD – to sit on both of the locations until they could show up and render both places safe,” Mattson said.
The U.S. Army bomb squad arrived from Anchorage two days later and took the pipe bomb at the storage unit and the grenade from the beach to the local landfill where they were safely detonated.
Mattson said the grenade was found “within proximity” of the storage unit but it is “just a coincidence.”
“These two were not related at all,” Mattson said of the grenade and the investigation into Conn. Trooper spokesman Austin McDaniel echoed this in a phone call.
McDaniel said that, shockingly, investigators believe these were two separate and unrelated incidents – a twist that Mattson agreed can only be described as pretty convenient for an out-of-town bomb squad.
“It was really convenient. Just by a mere chance, and glad that they were able to come and do that. And you know, logistically, this wouldn’t happen without either the troopers or the U.S. Army,” Mattson said.
McDaniel said there is no active investigation into the origins of the grenade. Joey Ellis Conn, the man accused in connection with the drugs, weapons, and storage unit pipe bomb, was taken into custody on April 23 and is being held without bail. He is charged with six counts of third and fourth degree possession charges for controlled substances and weapons.
