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FARMINGTON — Criminal charges have been filed against a Salt Lake man who told police he was trying to make an "M-500" firework when it exploded.
In July, an explosion ripped through a Farmington garage and left a man critically injured. The size of the blast prompted a response from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives along with Farmington police, who questioned whether the man was doing more than experimenting with homemade fireworks.
Landon Hamilton Muir, 32, is charged in 2nd District Court with possession of an explosive device, a second-degree felony.
Muir "suffered small shrapnel wounds and two puncture wounds on his body, as well as significant burns" from the explosion, the charges state.
He was able to tell first responders that he "was 'making an M-500' firework, and that the explosion ignited his entire inventory of the incendiary components," according to charging documents.
Investigators served a search warrant on the garage, and recovered numerous items, including "casings and caps for M-500 style firecrackers, a sample of an unknown powdery substance, large firecracker caps, a glue stick, and a large metal pipe which was threaded and capped on both ends in the manner of a pipe-bomb," the charges state.
Later, at the hospital, Muir told investigators that he "had mixed two types of explosive powders in a quantity enough to make 50 M-500 firecrackers, and was 'testing' a sample of the powder in a 'corner' of the garage, when the explosion occurred," charging documents state.
A search of Muir's phones revealed that he had "conducted many searches about building large fireworks, making flash powder, using black powder, and what type of pipes to use to make M80 fireworks," the charges state.
His initial appearance in court is scheduled for Jan. 14.
