Youth Injured When Pipe Bomb Explodes

A pipe bomb exploded Wednesday in the front yard of a Huntington Beach home, wounding a youth who apparently was manufacturing the device, police said.

Kenneth Richard Wolf, 18, of Fountain Valley was undergoing surgery to his left hand at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital Wednesday night, Sgt. Larry Miller said.

Wolf had been visiting an unidentified friend at the friend’s home in the 20400 block of Kenworth Circle about 6:20 p.m., Miller said. Wolf was assembling the bomb in the front yard when it exploded, blowing away parts of his hand and fingers, Miller said.

The explosive material was match-stick heads, packed inside a 14-inch-long section of pipe, according to Miller, who added that match heads are “very, very dangerous, very unstable.”

Miller said police do not know why Wolf was constructing the device, but the investigation is continuing. He said the friend, who was inside the house with his family while Wolf was assembling the bomb, was not implicated.