Part of a neighborhood was evacuated in Archer when a cleaning crew came across what looked like a pipe bomb in a home said to be in foreclosure.  The device was rigged to look like a bomb and that was enough for deputies to clear out neighbors.  It was a while before they could return home. 

 

 

 

Archer resident Willie Boykin loves the neighborhood. 

 

 

 

"Its real good its real quiet and stuff,"  Boykin said. 

 

 

 

But the neighborhood, Archer Woods, wasn't quiet earlier this afternoon. 

 

 

 

"It was about 12:15 to 12:20 I got a knock,"  Boykin said. 

 

 

 

He saw several Alachua County Sheriff's cars. 

 

 

 

"Probably about ten cars out here, and a couple vans out here, and they say they was going to have to do something,"  Boykin said.  

 

 

 

He found this out after Boykin's father woke him up and told him he needed to evacuate.  

 

 

 

"The police was out here and want us to evacuate because they heard explosives was in someone's house,"  Boykin said. 

 

 

 

His first reaction, surprised to find out he had to leave his house because of a bomb threat. 

 

 

 

"I was shocked when they said that,"  Boykin said. 

 

 

 

Deputies say they got a call around 11 o'clock saying a cleaning crew found a suspicious package inside the foreclosed home. 

 

 

 

"The device was suspicious in nature had the appearance of being consistent with a pipe bomb a PVC type item capped with a fuse possibly looked like a fuse coming out,"  Sergeant Todd Kelley Alachua County Sheriff's Office PIO said. 

 

 

 

Deputies say they sent a bomb unit out here along with a robot to check it out and after dismantling the device, they realized the threat dropped. 

 

 

 

"It was not an actual bomb, there was no content inside that device that was explosive at all, "  Kelley said. 

 

 

 

Boykin is relieved to know he and his neighbors are safe. 

 

 

 

"Yeah I felt they was good about the situation, cause they explain it to me, but yeah I wasn't upset at all,"  Boykin said. 

 

 

 

Now he can finish raking in peace. 

 

 

 

The county appraiser's website lists the owner of the home as David Wayne Schmitt.  Neighbors say the house was last occupied two years ago and no one has been in the house since.