Loris area residents hear booms early Sunday morning

By Annie Rigby

On Sunday evening, Dec. 13, Loris residents were asking “Did you hear that boom?” Early in the evening two booms were heard inside the city limits. Residents began posting on the Next Door Neighbor app describing the sounds they had heard and asked if anyone else heard the noises.

The Horry County Police Department received nearly 100 complaints reporting loud boom sounds near Highway 65 just outside Conway that was heard from Adrian Highway to Carolina Forest areas.

An HCPD officer was familiar with complaints in the past of a man shooting high-powered rifles who was using a legal exploding target called Tannerite. When the police arrived at the man’s home off Long Avenue Extension off Highway 65 they asked if he had been shooting rifles. Police state the man immediately asked if using Tannerite targets is illegal. The officer explained it is not; however, the HCPD received numerous calls about the noise. The man admitted to shooting the ‘sonic boom” targets with his rifle, also a legally exploding target. He said he had fired three shots at the sonic boom targets in the woods on his property.

Due to the number of emergency calls made to 911 from different parts of the county, the police made the determination to charge the man with disturbing the peace. HCPD made the decision due to the circumstances and the man’s disregard for peace and tranquility of the public. He was issued a courtesy summons for breach of peace.

The man’s name has not been released and HCPD stated there was no risk to the public.

Tannerite is a brand name of a binary explosive often used as a rifle target. Binary explosives are a two-part mixture of components that aren’t explosive on their own. The original patent for Tannerite describes a mixture of ammonium nitrate, ammonium perchlorate and powdered aluminum and a few minor ingredients.

Binary kits are not regulated by The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF). Firearms combining the binary components produce an explosive material subject to federal explosives laws and regulations. One package of Tannerite creates an explosion equal to a little less than one stick of dynamite.