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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vacaville police officers and an ATF agent work near the scene of a possible pipe bomb explosion that severely injured a man in his driveway in Vacaville, Calif., Sunday, March 27, 2011. According to police, about 10:30 a.m., an elderly man on Cashel Circle was severely injured when a possible pipe bomb inside of a newspaper exploded in his driveway. Numerous bomb squads responded to the scene as police evacuated residents from homes and blocked off a wide radius after an additional suspicious package was located in the area. (AP Photo/The Reporter, Rick Roach)
VACAVILLE, Calif. >> A Northern California man who went outside to retrieve a newspaper from his driveway Sunday morning was injured when a device hidden inside the paper exploded, authorities said.
The blast at around 10:20 a.m. forced the evacuation of about 50 surrounding homes in Vacaville, which is located between San Francisco and Sacramento.
The man’s daughter-in-law, Sharon Sanchez, told KGO-TV that he had cooked breakfast and was waiting for family to arrive when he walked out to get the paper. It wasn’t clear if the man was the target of the device, or if the explosion was a result of a random attack, Vacaville city spokesman Mark Mazzaferro said.
The man, who authorities haven’t identified, was airlifted to the University of California, Davis Medical Center. The extent of his injuries was unknown.
A bomb squad from Travis Air Force Base and officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the California Highway Patrol helped search the area, but no other explosive devices were found, Mazzaferro said.
Residents from most of the evacuated homes were allowed to return late Sunday afternoon, he said.
