WESTMINSTER, Md. — A $5,000 reward is being offered after a package delivered to a Carroll County home exploded, injuring a 28-year-old man.
It happened around 5:30 p.m. Friday on View Ridge Court off Lineboro Road.
Sheriff Jim DeWees says the victim left his home around 8 in the morning.
Shortly afterwards, someone hand delivered a package made out to the victim and left it on the front porch.
The man's grandparents sat the package in the kitchen, until their grandson returned home.
Later in the evening when the victim got back, he took the package from the kitchen to his bedroom.
Upon opening the package, it blew up striking the victim in his abdomen and legs.
RELATED: Reported explosion in Carroll County sends 28-year-old to hospital
DeWees says the package contained a homemade improvised explosive device, but wouldn't go into more detail.
The package doesn't appear to have been delivered by the United States Postal Service or any other commonly known courier or parcel service, according to Dewees.
In speaking with the victim, investigators aren't sure of any motive or reason the victim would be targeted.
The victim's currently in stable condition at a Pennsylvania trauma center, DeWees said.
We spoke to the victim’s grandmother, who did not want us to identify her with the bomber still at large, and she gave this account of the explosion.
“Have you ever been hit in the back of the head and shoved so fast forward that your glasses fly off and it feels like the pressure is just ‘boom’? That’s what I felt in the kitchen and that’s three walls away from his room.”
She says he made it out of his room following the explosion and grew emotional remembering his appearance after taking the brunt of the blast.
“He’s my grandson and you don’t know what it looked like to walk out and see him lying in the grass and the ambulance came and it was scary. It was really scary.”
While the blast dislodged some windows and part of the roof making the home unlivable, the woman says it appears her grandson will survive, but it will be a long road to recovery.
“He’s going to have to go to rehab. They don’t know what kind of rehab, but he will be going there so we don’t know when, where or what, but say a prayer, be blessed and kiss your kids everyday.”
To be elibigle for the reward money, your information must lead to an arrest.
You can call the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office at 1-888-399-TIPS.
