Cops: Guy Tried to Burn House With Bowling Ball Bomb

Which is one way to foil bank from selling it
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 17, 2015 1:30 PM CDT

As the Sun-Sentinel puts it, "it's hard to stand out when it comes to crime in South Florida," but that's exactly what one 21-year-old Loxahatchee resident has allegedly done. Per the AP, Tyler Butler was arrested on charges of arson and using an explosive device after cops say he tried to prevent the bank from selling his foreclosed home in a way that suggests he's watched too many Looney Tunes cartoons: blowing up the place with a bowling ball bomb, complete with what Butler told deputies was a gunpowder-filled center and a rope for a fuse, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

People in Butler's neighborhood called 911 to report a house fire around 10pm Sunday, and someone told police on the scene that Butler was still inside. Deputies detained the man as he left the burning building, and as firefighters put out the blaze, they noticed a bowling ball with what looked like a wick sticking out. Witnesses said Butler had mentioned before the fire that "he wasn't gonna leave the house he [used] to live in, that he would burn it down," per a Palm Beach County sheriff's arrest report. (A Seattle man wasn't trying to burn down the house where he lived—he just wanted to kill a spider.)

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