A Dublin family unexpectedly became part of a television show stunt gone horribly wrong when a cannonball that was misfired during the filming of an episode of "Mythbusters" struck their Dublin Ranch home Tuesday afternoon.
Hithe Shetty's wife was napping in the master bedroom of their Cassata Place home when a She woke up to plaster and insulation spraying everywhere.
"She thought the house was under attack," Shetty told Dublin Patch Wednesday morning, adding that the couple's two children, ages 2 and 5, were home when it happened, as were Shetty's wife's parents.
They were sleeping in another room and didn't really hear the commotion.
But one of the kids was playing on the bed in the master bedroom when it happened around 4:15 p.m.
"By the time I came home from work, the police were here," said Shetty, who works in the tech industry in Mountain View.
A Mythbusters producer showed up at the home not long afterward.
"He said he was sorry and that they'd take care of it," Shetty said. "I didn't know these experiments were happening here. It's a good thing no one was hurt. They should go further away."
The kids were scared, he said; the 2-year-old didn't sleep well Tuesday night. The family has only lived in the house for a year.
Linda Tam, who lives closer to the Alameda County Sheriff's bomb range, where such artillery is commonly detonated, said she often hears grenades going off on the range.
"There have been times they're so loud that you feel it — it shakes the house," said Tam, who has lived in her house for five years. She said that happens maybe once a month.
Ramesh Kadam, who lives just a few houses down from the Shettys, said he heard the cannon but thought it sounded more like a garbage can falling over. Then he saw police around the Shettys' house and worried that someone was hurt.
"This was a shocking incident," he said. He has seen Mythbusters and always thought they did their experiments in remote places.
"But this is right in our backyard," he said. "They said this was only a one-time thing but once is enough. If a person had been in the way, there's no way they would have survived."
Across Tassajara Road, Dublin resident Jasbir Gilllives, who lives at the corner of Springvale and Bellavue, said the cannonball landed inside his mini-van. He said he was inside the house at the time but had been in the van with his kids just five to 10 minutes earlier.
"I thought it was only a window, but I looked inside and the whole dash was smashed," said Gill. "It's scary."
The Wednesday morning noting that an investigation is underway and that, "Sheriff Greg Ahern has advised the city that he has suspended all non-emergency activities at the Sheriff’s Bomb Disposal Range until the completion of a full investigation into this incident."
To read the full statement, click .
MythBusters, which is produced for Discovery Channel by Beyond Productions, .
Dublin Patch editor Erika Conner contributed to this report.
