MUG SHOT Florida man tries to blow up house with bowling ball

A Florida man has been arrested and charged with a bevy of crimes after making a bomb out of a bowling ball and attempting to destroy a house with it.

Tyler Butler, a 21-year-old Florida man from down Loxahatchee way, was responsible for the cartoonish deed. Authorities first showed up at a foreclosed home in response to reports of a fire–Palm Beach County Fire Rescue arrived to find smoke pouring from the roof.

After entering the house to assess the threat and make sure no one was home, the fire department spotted the bowling ball device in the living room. It was almost exactly what you’d expect to find in a Wily E. Coyote laboratory: a large bowling ball, hollowed out and filled with gunpowder, with a long makeshift wick leading from the center of the ball out through one of the finger holes.

The fire department alerted the Palm Beach County bomb squad, which made quick work of the bowling ball.

Once the police tracked Butler down, the Florida man confessed to having made the bomb. Neighbors were startled to find out about the nefarious ball, though they did say they’d overheard Butler talking about setting the house on fire.

Butler has been charged with attempting to use a desctructive device, as well as arson in the first degree. He is being held without bail.

(Photo credits: Strike, ball via Flickr; mug shot via Palm Beach County PD)