Man carried pipe bomb around as protection, police say

A 50-year-old man who was arrested Saturday after turning in a pipe bomb to Glendale police told officers that two men were trying to kill him, so he built the device for protection, officials said.

Saro Akhverdyan is expected to appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court this week on a charge of possessing the destructive device. Officials said the bomb was safely detonated late Saturday outside police headquarters and that no one was injured during the incident.

Akhverdyan made the device after he suspected two men, on separate occasions, tried to track him down and kill him, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz told the Glendale News-Press.

Akhverdyan, a Glendale resident, was "paranoid," Lorenz said, because he was certain the men were after him, although he was unable to articulate who they were.

Akhverdyan allegedly told police he built the 6-inch-long, 3-inch-wide pipe bomb, which contained bullets, pellets and gunpowder, for protection.

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-- Veronica Rocha, Times Community News