An unsettling incident in Harrison Township this morning led to the arrest of a 45-year-old man after authorities discovered what appeared to be a makeshift bomb in his car. The Macomb County Sheriff's Office responded to a call just after 9 a.m. about a suspicious situation on the 24000 block of Bradford Drive, as reported by The Detroit News. Law enforcement arrived to find a propane tank seated in a four-door sedan, dangerously rigged with electrical wiring, and a disturbing message against the windshield warning that the car would explode if touched.

Additional details came to light on the Macomb County government's website, revealing that deputies evacuated nearby homes and closed the street to mitigate any potential threat. The suspect apparently went to great lengths to present the device as real, affixing a second propane tank to the vehicle's front wheel and running copper wire underneath the car. In a calculated attempt to breathe life into an otherwise inert heap of metal and wire, he called upon the primal fear of an elusive threat.

The Michigan State Police Bomb Squad was called to the scene, where they quickly deemed the apparatus a hoax. The Sheriff's Office is now pursuing charges against the man for the creation and display of a device meant to represent an explosive, which carries a penalty of up to five years in jail, according to the information provided by macombgov.org.

The suspect was taken into custody without incident. The Macomb County Sheriff's Office has not yet released the identity of the man in custody or the motives behind his alarming ruse.