Crime & Safety

Sheriff's Office: Loud Booms Caused by 'Legal to Possess Explosive Targets'

Oconee County Fire and Rescue and deputies investigated reports of explosions in the Cooper Gin Road area Wednesday evening.

Loud booms heard in the Cooper Gin Road area Wednesday evening around 8:45 p.m. were caused by people shooting "legal to possess explosive target(s)," according to the Oconee County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies and Fire and Rescue personnel responded to the area around 8:50 p.m. to investigate the source of the noise.  The following Nixle alert was sent out:

Sheriff & fire units are responding to reports of multiple explosions in the Cooper Gin Road area. No source or exact location for the reported explosions has been ascertained at this time.

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Within an hour, the Sheriff's Office posted on its Facebook Page this update:

The source has been located. Some folks were shooting a product called tannerite....a legal to possess explosive target....they were in a safe area, however we have encouraged them to do it during the daylight instead of at night.

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Deputies talked to the individuals shooting the targets...again, no violation of the law has taken place.

Did you hear the loud booms? One woman, who wrote on the Facebook thread that she lives on Cooper Gin Road, said the sound knocked Christmas decorations off of her mantle. 

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