GLENDALE, AZ (CBS5) -
Police are warning residents to "be careful with that flashlight" after two separate explosive devices were found in open areas around Glendale in the past 24 hours.
The devices were hidden inside standard six-volt yellow flashlights, Glendale police said.
On Monday, a landscaper spotted one, turned it on and it exploded. And Sunday afternoon, a woman saw another flashlight, turned it on and it, too, exploded. She sat down with CBS 5 News with a warning to the public.
Jennell McKee said even though her hands are covered in bruises and burns, she's glad she's the one who found it, and not a child.
"Just sat there, looked normal, like somebody had dropped it," McKee said, describing the flashlight she found behind a tree near 51st Avenue and Missouri on Sunday.
"When I pushed it went, 'Boom,' and I got hit on the side of the face," she said. She and her mom were hit all over their bodies with the shrapnel stuffed inside.
"There was a nine-volt battery with some wires attached to it, there were BBs," she said. She told CBS 5 News there was also gun powder inside, pieces of ceramic and what the bomb squad told her were sulfur pellets.
"They're these little black pellets, they collected thousands of them," she said. Her hands are pretty bruised up and swollen, and she has a couple of cuts and burn marks on her fingers, but she says it could've been much worse.
Then Monday morning, a landscaper was fixing some sprinklers near 70th Avenue and Bell when he turned on a flashlight he found in a ditch where he was working.
"I heard a huge explosion, so I ran outside just in time to see the smoke and the dirt flying, and the individual that had grabbed the flashlight run," said Don Roberts, who heard it all happen. He said the guy holding the flashlight also avoided serious injury.
"If he would have turned it toward himself to see if it came on when he pushed the button, it would've exploded in his face," he said.
Police said they're dealing with a similar scenario - flashlight, BBs - things stuffed inside to hurt someone. Except Monday morning, a pair of dice was found next to the flashlight.
"I don't know, it's like a signature to me," Roberts said.
McKee said she hopes there aren't any other flashlight bombs out there, but wants to put the word out in case there are.
"I hope they catch him before he really seriously hurts somebody," she said.
Police say if you see a flashlight, no matter what size or color, don't pick it up and don't turn it on. If you know anything about this, call police.
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Jennell McKee
