What began as a financial dispute over a foreclosure on a horse farm ended with a robot shooting a turnip Thursday afternoon.

Mark GiaQuinta, an attorney at Haller & Colvin, said the turnip, wrapped inside a gift bag in a box, was sent to his downtown law firm by a man his client is suing. GiaQuinta said the man is “very volatile” and last week sent a letter with only the word “bull----” written in black ink.

“One day he's very friendly and the next day he's off the wall,” GiaQuinta said.

So when GiaQuinta's legal assistant called him to say a box had come from the man, GiaQuinta said he was nervous about having her open it. “He told her to call the police because the guy's a psycho,” said Leroy Williams, the firm's office manager.

After being called at 3:31 p.m., Williams said police evacuated the building and called the bomb squad after examining the box. “(I ) glanced at it and got the hell out of the building,” Williams said.

GiaQuinta said he didn't think there was a bomb in the box, but when police asked him if he was 100 percent sure there was nothing dangerous inside, he said no.

“I thought he probably wrapped up some dog crap,” GiaQuinta said. “I thought it was a prank.”

But police spokesman Officer Michael Joyner said police couldn't take any chance. “We're dealing with an unknown here and we have to follow our protocol to render it safe,” he said.

So police, who cordoned off the area around the firm at the intersection of Clay and Main streets for about two hours, rolled out Rob, the four-wheeled robot they use to examine and detonate potentially explosive devices. Curious pedestrians and drivers gawked at Rob, who kept the box at mechanical arm's length. Then a heavily armored member of the bomb squad X-rayed it.

At 5:59 p.m., Rob opened fire with a 12-guage shotgun blast, then sprayed the box with a water cannon. “That's a hell of a turnip,” Joyner said as he inspected the drenched and bullet-damaged vegetable after Rob had done his duty.

Though Joyner said any criminal charges would have to come from the prosecutor's office, he did not know what law could have been broken since there was no threatening note. He said the prank was costly and time-consuming, noting off-duty police had to be called in on overtime. “It's a disruption and an unnecessary occurrence.”

Why did the man, who GiaQuinta said now lives in Oklahoma, send a turnip?

“I'm assuming it's the phrase, ‘You can't get blood out of a turnip,'” GiaQuinta said. “I'm glad the only thing in there was a turnip. He's very volatile, but he's got a sense of humor.”