Man’s homemade bomb blows at inopportune moment, levels his house, NC sheriff says

The explosion that leveled a house on April Fool’s Day in Claremont, North Carolina, was caused when a homemade explosive detonated, according to investigators.

Two people in the home were hurt, including 34-year-old Travis Kyle Bowes, who is accused of building the bomb, the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office says.

Bowes has since been released from the hospital and is charged with manufacturing a weapon of mass destruction and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, officials said. He is being held at the Catawba County Detention Facility under $325,000 secured bond, the sheriff’s office said.

The explosion happened at 4010 Shook Road, which is where Bowes lives.

Investigators have not released the identity of the second person who was injured by the explosion. A 14-year-old girl escaped the house without injury, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation reports.

Firefighters arrived to find the home “fully consumed by fire,” and a photo posted by the NCSBI shows it was burned to the studs.

“The exact makeup and composition of the device or devices detonated and or recovered is something the NCSBI and ATF are continuing to analyze,” the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office told The Charlotte Observer.

“We will receive a laboratory report with those findings in due course.”

Claremont is about a 45-mile drive northwest from uptown Charlotte.

This story was originally published April 9, 2026 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Man’s homemade bomb blows at inopportune moment, levels his house, NC sheriff says."