IMPD probes link between Dec. 20 blast on 16th Street, 2018 Irvington explosion
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Two men were formally charged with crimes Friday, a week after they threw what police called an explosive device from a 16th Street overpass on the west side.
Court documents obtained by News 8 revealed a possible connection to an explosion in 2018 in the Irvington neighborhood on the east side.
The west side explosion Dec. 20 left debris on a woman’s car. She was with her son and says she’s happy no one was seriously hurt.
Jane Olise-Aikens said, “I guess I’m just very lucky that it was half a foot the other way, or else it would have been right on my car, and it would have blown up my car, I guess.”
Court documents offered some new details about that blast.
Wayne Turner, 56, and his son, Isak, 21, were celebrating Wayne’s birthday at his house with another woman. That’s when investigators say Wayne built the explosive device made of cardboard and two wooden end caps and filled with potassium perchlorate and aluminumn powder. The two compounds mixed together can create an explosive. The container was sealed, and a fuse was glued to its end.
The three then went by vehicle to the intersection of West 16th Street and Olin Avenue, walked to the overpass, and lit the device and threw it off the overpass.
The court documents also showed Wayne had additional powder and materials that could be used to make explosives at his house.
Wayne had even bragged multiple times to others about setting off devices. His most recent brag? The Oct. 3, 2018, explosion in the Irvington community off East Washington Street near Bolton Avenue.
The Irvington blast went off in the median, leaving a hole more than 1 foot wide and 3 feet long. A dash camera captured the explosion. Residents at the time told News 8 the blast was terrifying. Jesse Noble said, “It was horrendous. It was like kaboom! … It was … you could hear the windows rattle from that distance. It was a pretty strong whatever.”
The court documents give the first answers in what had been a mystery in Irvington.
A Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department spokesman said they are looking into a connection between the Turners and the Irvington explosion, and a motive for it.
Online court records did not show an initial court hearing set for the Turners. Wayne faces a charge of manufacturing and possession of a destructive device. Isak faces charges of possession of of a destructive device and criminal mischief.
On Friday, Wayne was still in the Marion County jail and Isak had been released on his own recognizance.
