An “unknown explosive device” was thrown near a polling location Tuesday morning in Catasauqua while voting was under way in the Pennsylvania primary election, but state police said there was no evidence the incident was related to the election.
Trooper Nathan Branosky, a state police spokesperson, said the device was thrown from a vehicle just before 10 a.m. near Salem United Church of Christ at 615 Third St. It detonated approximately half a block away and around the corner from the entrance of the church, and is believed to have been an isolated incident, Branosky said. No one was hurt and nothing was damaged.
“No information exists to cause investigators to believe this incident was related to the polling location,” Branosky said.
The polling location remained open during the investigation, although Third Street between Pine and Chapel streets and Walnut Street Crane and Limestone streets remained closed for much of the day and roads were marked off by police tape.
As of 6 p.m., no arrests had been made.
County Executive Josh Siegel said the situation was resolved swiftly, and that the polling location was still accessible.
“We trust in the expertise of the local, state and federal investigators on hand to determine what happened. Voters can be confident that all levels of government and law enforcement are working together to ensure that polling places here in Lehigh County and across the commonwealth remain safe,” he said in a statement.
The Lehigh County district attorney’s office said local, state and federal law enforcement are all aware of the situation and monitoring both community safety as well as compliance with election law.
Anyone with information about the incident was urged to contact state police at Bethlehem at 610-861-2026.