Background: The area of 7900 State Route 22 in Salem Township, Pennsylvania (Google Maps). Inset: James Sever (Pennsylvania State Police).
A landlord was starting his lawn mower in a rural township when suddenly the machine exploded – and police believe it wasn”t an accident.
David Martin reported to police in Pennsylvania at about 4:30 p.m. on July 20 that a “loud explosion” had occurred at his rental property in the 7900 block of Salem Township, Westmoreland County, according to an affidavit of probable cause. He said he “had started his Club Cadet zero-turn lawn mower” and, within moments, there was an explosion underneath, “which he believed may have been a bomb.”
Local and federal agencies – including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – responded to the property, and Martin elaborated upon what had transpired.
He had arrived at his rental property about 30 minutes before to do maintenance work. He told investigators that it had been three days since he’d done any work on the property and last used the lawn mower, the affidavit said. Martin said he first entered the garage bay and filled the machine’s tank up with gas. Then he sat down on the seated lawn mower and turned it on, letting it rest for about ten seconds. When he engaged the handles to move it forward, “a loud explosion occurred, jolting him forward.” He then jumped off and ran outside.
Several key details in the case led authorities to their suspect – 54-year-old James Sever, a man Martin relayed he had evicted from his property on June 3. A state trooper recalled responding to the property on June 11 after Sever had returned and “made threatening statements” toward Martin, the affidavit stated.
According to authorities, Sever was “upset” at Martin because he was evicted. “You’re going to end up getting yourself hurt over this,” the suspect reportedly said.
The “explosion” occurred about five weeks later after this alleged threat. As part of their investigation, state troopers also interviewed a witness at the scene who said he was raking grass when he heard a “loud explosion” and saw Martin run out of the garage bay.
The witness stated he believed it was a problem with the machine, so he ran inside and turned it off. When he did so, he noticed that a “wooden cat box, also located within the bay, was on fire,” and he brought it outside.
When investigators entered the bay, they found “metal shrapnel throughout the entire structure.” There was also, per the affidavit, “small pieces of threaded pipe,” black plastic zip ties, nails, screws, and “battery, and wire components.” Furthermore, in rooms to the right and left were “larger metal pieces of shrapnel consistent with a metal pipe forced through the wall from the explosion.”
Experts are said to have reviewed the materials and confirmed that an improvised explosive device had been used. Investigators continued digging into Sever and reportedly found new clues.
A search warrant of the suspect’s phone records showed he was less than a half-mile from the road on which lay the rental property the previous day, July 19, for about 50 minutes in the early evening, the affidavit states. Nearby tire tracks also appeared to match those that would be made from Sever’s white Dodge Ram 1500 truck.
Sever’s truck was subsequently searched, an exploration that found black zip tie cords that appeared to be the same kind as those found in the garage bay. Also located in the truck were “a red t-shirt and black/blue shorts,” police said.
The day after the “explosion,” police interviewed another witness – who lived nearby the rental property. They reported being approached by Sever on the date of the alleged crime, with him donning a red T-shirt and black or dark blue shorts.
He “appeared dirty, disheveled and was acting nervous and erratic,” the witness said, and he had reportedly asked about her neighbors and spoken about his eviction.
A third witness — Sever’s upstairs neighbor from February to October of 2023 — also spoke to investigators, per the affidavit. In the spring of that year, Sever was allegedly “upset” with his then-property manager “because smoke was coming into the residence due to issues with the chimney.”
Sever, according to the neighbor, had said, “I’ll blow that motherf–er up.”
An arrest warrant for Sever was filed on Friday, though no announcement of his arrest has yet been made. The Pennsylvania State Police said he is known to “frequent the wooded areas in the Derry/Blairsville area” and asked people to call 911 if they see him.
According to the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office, Sever faces charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, weapons of mass destruction, risking catastrophe, possessing an instrument of crime, trespassing, and simple assault.
