Driver seeks help with bomb in trunk

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ROCHESTER, Minn., July 20 (UPI) -- A parking garage at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., was shut down for hours Thursday after a visitor drove to the clinic with a pipe bomb in the trunk.

The driver, a Winona, Minn., resident told security personnel at the garage about the bomb and offered to drive it away from the property, The (Rochester) Post-Bulletin reported. The bomb was allegedly found in the driver's yard in Winona.

"They said, 'We've got this thing, and we don't know what to do with it. We'd like to get rid of it,'" Rochester Police Sgt. Steve Thompson said.

Police were also asked for suggestions on dismantling the bomb, an idea they discouraged.

Instead, the bomb squad from Bloomington, Minn., was summoned. Officers used a machine to open the trunk and a robot to remove what appeared to be a 3-foot-long bomb weighing 50 to 60 pounds.

The bomb was detonated at a quarry. No arrests had been made late Thursday.