A North Carolina man drove to Putnam County, where he blew his hand off with a pipe bomb, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills. The man is currently under the care of Atrium Health Navicent Medical Center in Macon.
“I have a warrant, but don’t want to arrest him until the hospital releases him, so the people of Putnam County will not have to pay his hospital bill, which is not going to be cheap,” Sills said.
The sheriff identified the man as Peter Kim Tae Soo Theyson, 49, of Indian Trail, a town in the northwestern part of Union County, N.C.
“So, what brought this individual to Putnam County is still a mystery,” Sills said. “We can find no nexus between him and anybody in Putnam County.”
Around 4:40 p.m. Sunday, the sheriff’s office received a call from a woman who said she was traveling on Oconee Springs Road when a man came out of the woods, waving her down without a hand.
“Needless to say, she called 911,” Sills said. “The firemen got there, as did Cpl. Deputy Chris Harper. He (Theyson) didn’t blow off all of his hand; (the bone on the thumb side) is still present but the rest of it is gone.”
Theyson was on Oconee Springs Road just before Rockville Lane. His car was parked just beyond a powerline, and deputies reportedly found parts of the explosion approximately 40 yards away.
“Donovan found the actual pipe bomb itself,” Sills said. “Both caps were gone, but the pipe was still intact, which is indicative that the caps were not screwed on well. My speculation is the pipe bomb sparked when he was putting on the cap.”
Sills obtained a search warrant forTheyson’s vehicle, in which he said he found “a couple pounds of smokeless gun powder and pyrodex (a powder used in muzzleload guns), a good bit of cannon fuse, and two PVC pipe bombs that were not loaded.”
The sheriff called in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
“I called them because I wanted to use their lab resources and expert testimony about the bomb,” Sills explained. “Plus, he traversed two states with it to get here, so I had to call them.
“Our evil Flock cameras revealed that he left North Carolina at 4 a.m. Sunday and arrived around here in Putnam County, first on Greensboro Road, then at 5-Points (the intersection of Sumter and Maple streets) in Eatonton, and headed toward Oconee Springs Road,” Sills said.
When he called Union County, N.C. authorities, Sills learned that Theyson was out on bond in North Carolina for a possession of weapon of mass destruction arrest last August.
“He had a pipe bomb on his person then at that arrest, as well as a sizable cache of bomb-making equipment. I’d still like to know why he came to Putnam County. We tried to question him, but he had nothing to say and requested an attorney.”
Sills said if the federal authorities want to prosecute Theyson, “that’s fine with me, but we’re still going to charge him here under state law, so it won’t be double jeopardy.”