Explosion inquiry will take several weeks

Published 9:46 am Thursday, November 1, 2012

It may be several more weeks until the investigation is completed into last month’s explosion in a home on Albert Lea Lake, Freeborn County Sheriff Bob Kindler said Tuesday.

The Oct. 21 explosion severely injured 48-year-old Ronald Rofshus. He suffered an amputated left hand, an injured left ear, an injured left eye and chemical and heat burns plus debris wounds to 20 percent of his body, according to a statement from the family.

On Wednesday, Rofshus was listed in satisfactory condition at the Hennepin County Medical Center.

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Kindler said the Sheriff’s Office is waiting to get reports back from the agencies involved in the investigation, including the Bloomington Bomb Squad, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Bomb squad technicians used a robot on Oct. 22 to remove several containers of components used to make explosive devices from Rofshus’s home at 18115 Pelican Road.

Rofshus was reportedly making an explosive device when the blast occurred the day before.

Kindler has stated he is not sure whether anything illegal took place as there are components used in manufacturing explosive devices that are legal.