East metro residents left asking, 'What was that boom Tuesday night?'

LAKE ELMO, Minn. (KMSP) - Many in the east metro are talking after a mysterious “big boom” rattled windows and nerves Tuesday night.

Now, communities in Lake Elmo are asking, just what was that sound?

Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry said the first call came in just before 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Deputies looked for the source, but couldn’t find anything. And Xcel Energy said it didn’t come from the Bayport power plant, either.

In Lake Elmo if you didn’t hear it, you sure heard about it. Sometime after 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, the conversations quickly turned to whatever just boomed outside.

“It sounded like a cannon explosion and really startled me…. it was like, ‘What is going on?’” said Brad Taylor, an insurance agent at State Farm. 

Taylor said while it didn’t shake the building, it sure shook him.

Meanwhile, at the barber shop, questions are still stirring.

“I asked my wife, ‘What was that?’  she says, ‘I don’t know,’” said barber Marty Quast. “I’ve heard from Stillwater to Lake Elmo over in the edge of Oakdale - probably the east part of Oakdale - and that’s a pretty big area for nothing to be seen.”

It didn’t just light up conversation, it lit up Facebook groups, too.

The Minnesota National Guard spokesperson said the 146th fighter wing was conducting night training exercises last night, but all the aircraft were on the ground before 5 p.m.

For now, the mystery continues.