WEARE, N.H. — A man was arrested in connection with the explosion of two bombs hours apart on Wednesday and Thursday in Weare, New Hampshire, federal authorities said Friday.
Dale Stewart, 54, is facing multiple charges in the incidents, which gave a man minor injuries, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Webster resident had another pipe bomb in his possession at the time, Weare police said.
"A fully constructed inferno device, aka pipe bomb, was seized" in a search of his vehicle and residence after Stewart was detained about 6 p.m. Thursday, police said in a statement. New Hampshire State Police helped "neutralize" the bomb.
Stewart is due in Hillsborough County Superior Court. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak to his arrest.
The explosions took place on rural streets in Weare, a town of less than 10,000 that's west of Manchester, in the space of about 13 hours, authorities said Thursday, during the search for the bomber.
One person was hit with shrapnel in the second explosion, which took place before 7 a.m. Thursday morning about 6:50 a.m. on Sugar Hill Road just north of Concord Stage Road, but wasn't badly hurt, authorities said. The explosive devices were similar but are not believed to have been targeting anyone or anything, the ATF had said.
Craig Waldron, who came across the second bomb, described it as a PVC pipe with a blast so strong it blew out the side window of his van and with shrapnel kitting his face, causing minor injuries.
“It was loud, like someone was setting a cannon off on the Fourth of July,” he said. “I slowed down, looked at it. I really couldn’t see much and then I started rolling away, and then, ‘Bang!’ And it blew my window out.”
A neighbor felt the explosion yards away.
“I felt the shockwave on my body and my face,” Thomas Loeff said.
No one was hurt in the first explosion, about 6:10 p.m. Wednesday near a home on Dustin Tavern Road — New Hampshire Route 77 — south of Deering Center Road, according to police.