UPDATE | Residents throughout Port Hadlock heard explosions; one resident expected to find 'big hole in the middle of the street'

Posted 6/16/21

The Port Hadlock man who lost an arm after a homemade bomb explosion overnight was in critical condition Wednesday afternoon, according to a spokesperson for Harborview Medical Center.

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UPDATE | Residents throughout Port Hadlock heard explosions; one resident expected to find 'big hole in the middle of the street'

Posted

The Port Hadlock man who lost an arm after a homemade bomb explosion overnight was in critical condition Wednesday afternoon, according to a spokesperson for Harborview Medical Center.

Port Hadlock resident Jesse Thomas Taylor wasn’t the only person injured in the blast. Taylor's 6-year-old granddaughter also sustained burns to her head, authorities said.

Neighbors of the property described hearing at least one explosion, with some saying they could feel the concussion thousands of feet away. Some said they heard multiple blasts.

Scott Clements, was near the waterfront in Port Hadlock when he heard explosions.

"I heard the explosions and then I heard all of the emergency vehicles, like a ton of them," Clements said. "It was different from a single firework going off."

Kyla Pope said she lives near QFC and was playing video games when she heard the blasts.

“I felt it, my house shook and my mom was screaming at my brother, asking him if he’d heard it,” she said. “Me and my mom walked out on the back porch and could see the smoke coming up from where it was.”

Lawrence Columbia, who lives over at the B&R Mobile Home Court in Port Hadlock, was watching TV when he said he was rousted by a blast he could only describe as “grenade-like.”  

“I came out on the porch because I didn’t know if it was an accident or what. I was expecting to see a big hole in the middle of the street,” he said. “I felt the concussion from here.”

Emergency dispatchers were flooded with calls just after 9:30 p.m. June 15 reporting the explosions. Some of the callers also said they saw large flames and smoke.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, one person who called 911 reported that a man had been found on the property with a chest injury and fully amputated left arm.

Detectives responding to the scene in the 700 block of Ness' Corner Road also found homemade explosives, including what appeared to be pipe bombs and improvised explosive devices. The bombs and other material were found in an outbuilding on the property. Responding deputies and firefighters found a structure behind a home that was fully enveloped in fire.

A search warrant was obtained and the FBI and Washington State Patrol bomb squad was called in to assist local detectives.

Taylor is a Port Hadlock resident and has lived on Ness' Corner Road since October 2016, according to voter registration records.

The sheriff’s office, in a post on social media, said charges were expected to be forwarded to the county prosecutor’s office.