Home-made bomb inside mattress injures a Georgia man

RANGER, Ga. — Eddie Franklin rushed outside Monday night when a loud blast in his backyard made his entire trailer shudder.

Out on the stoop, soon surrounded by six live-in family members who also were panicked by the explosion, Franklin watched Andrew Durley, his niece’s husband, stumble out of a metal shed across the lawn, blood dripping from his nose, his arm singed.

Durley’s brother, Adam, had given him a mattress set that Durley carried from his truck to the shed. Once inside about 7:30 p.m., Durley began to tinker with something planted inside the box spring, family members said.

“He got the bomb out thinking it was a light because it had an electrical cord on it,” Franklin said. “When he plugged it up, that’s when it exploded.”

On Tuesday, the family remained confused and upset about why a small bomb was placed inside the box spring given to Durley, 23, and wondered who it was intended to hurt.

Remains from the bomb, made with gunpowder and red copper wire, remain lodged in the wall of the shed, which remained standing, Franklin said.

Yellow police tape draped around the property in Ranger as investigators from the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office combed the residence for answers. Several people are being interviewed but there were no suspects or arrests as of Tuesday afternoon, said Gordon County Chief Deputy Robert Paris.

“I’ve seen homemade bombs in my career, but not in several years,” Paris said. “It’s rare.”

Two Georgia Bureau of Investigation bomb squad trucks were called to help the sheriff’s deputies scrutinize the property, Paris said. Since the explosion is still being investigated, he said he couldn’t comment on whether any evidence was discovered.

When the police arrived at the home Monday night, the entire family was whisked from the trailer and taken to the Motel 6 on state Highway 53, said Durley’s aunt Diane Hite.

Durley was airlifted to Erlanger hospital and treated for his burns. He was released Tuesday morning, hospital officials say, but couldn’t comment on the extent of his wounds or his condition.

But his family members said they are worried he will be blinded in one eye permanently.

This is the third incident this year that has involved an explosion or a bomb threat in Gordon County.

A natural gas explosion in April destroyed at least eight homes and damaged 60 in an upscale neighborhood in Calhoun, Ga., records show.

Police also arrested a woman Aug. 12 for ramming her car into the side of the county jail and threatening that she had a bomb inside the car. No bomb was discovered.