[A] Northfield man is facing federal charges following the detonation of an explosive in central Vermont last week.
The U.S. Attorney filed court papers in U.S. District Court in Burlington Monday charging Mark McCloud with unlawfully possessing explosive devices and transferring an explosive.
Officials say McCloud, 45, lit a pipe bomb made from a 6 and a half inch long copper pipe packed with explosive powder.
McCloud lost his left hand in the explosion. Four others were nearby at the time and were also treated in the hospital for their injuries.
According to the affidavit from Scott Murray, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, McCloud had given a second device to his neighbor earlier in the day.
The neighbor, William Hajar, told investigators that McCloud called the copper tube explosive “dynamite,” and had suggested putting it in a dumpster or using it to blow up a tree stump, according to court papers
Investigators interviewed McCloud in the hospital Thursday. He told them he had exploded similar devices, some made out of copper, others of cardboard, during the summer.
In a YouTube video posted Sunday, first reported by WCAX, McCloud said that he had found the device in a box when cleaning out some items that had belonged to a man his mother took care of.
Believing it was a firework, McCloud lit the device while holding it in his left hand, he said.
“Nobody manufactured these, nobody was doing it on purpose,” McCloud said. “To me it was just fun, and I paid a big price for it.”
McCloud said that he hopes others learn from his experience, “that just because you find something that you think is safe or a box of fireworks that you think is fun to play with that you really don’t know what you’re touching.”
“And it almost killed me, and it almost killed my wife and it almost killed my unborn child,” McCloud said.
In the video, McCloud apologized to the community. He said that after the device exploded, he ran up to his apartment and tried to stem the bleeding with paper towels.
His wife drove him to the hospital.
“I didn’t believe I would be alive long enough to wait for the ambulance and get to the hospital,” McCloud said.
McCloud is due in court Dec. 21. He could face a maximum of 10 years in prison for each charge, and a fine of up to $250,000.
