‘Improvised’ fireball tears through Alabama apartment targeting romantic rival, feds say
An Alabama woman set off an explosive at the apartment door where she thought her romantic rival still lived, causing about $470,000 in property damage, federal officials said.
Now, 39-year-old Kimberly Lanetta Blackmon is sentenced to more than 11 years in prison with three years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama said in a March 12 news release.
Blackmon’s attorney told McClatchy News they had no comment on the case in a March 12 email.
According to court documents, Blackmon illegally entered an apartment complex in Birmingham at 4:45 a.m. Oct. 18, 2022.
She then took the elevator upstairs to the fourth floor, where a person who was romantically involved with Blackmon’s ex-boyfriend once lived, prosecutors said. The apartment unit now had a new tenant, who wasn’t home at the time.
Blackmon leaned a bagged explosive device against the door and ran down a stairwell before it became a “fireball,” prosecutors said.
The door of the apartment unit and the inside was damaged before the fire was ultimately put out by a sprinkler system, according to court documents. No injuries were reported.
About four hours later, Blackmon came back to the apartment complex and told the manager she “heard there was a fire” and was worried about her “cousin’s apartment,” then she left, prosecutors said.
However, when talking to the manager, Blackmon mentioned an apartment that didn’t exist, which made the manager suspicious, according to court documents.
The manager then walked outside and took a picture of Blackmon’s car before she drove away.
An indictment was filed against Blackmon on April 25, 2024, and she pleaded guilty in July, prosecutors said.
In addition to jail time, Blackmon is ordered to pay over $230,000 in restitution, according to court documents.
This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 6:24 PM with the headline "‘Improvised’ fireball tears through Alabama apartment targeting romantic rival, feds say."
