WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — James Sever had nothing to say when leaving the magistrate’s office on Monday afternoon.
He waived his right to a preliminary hearing and will now go to trial because police say he built a second pipe bomb that was found on this busy on-ramp to the Pennsylvania Turnpike in North Huntingdon.
He is also facing charges for a different pipe bomb that was underneath his former landlord’s lawnmower. Drivers in Irwin said they are glad no one was hurt.
“To think that someone could have run over it with a car…like a family or something,” said driver, Cayden Gambone. “I’m glad that they got it cleaned up before anything like that could have happened.”
According to police, Sever admitted to building both pipe bombs while living as David Martin’s tenant, but he originally didn’t intend for Martin to be the target.
Sever told police he made both bombs to place on his uncle’s car, Robert Sever, but when Martin started the eviction process, he decided to target him also.
Folks said they are shocked by the new developments.
“It’s something you’d never think you hear about! It’s something you only see in movies! It’s like a Netflix series, honestly. Shocking,” Austin Pomerantz, who was about to enter the PA Turnpike.
Sever is charged with possessing weapons of mass destruction and risking catastrophe. A trial date has not yet been set.
Channel 11 was told no charges have been filed in connection with the fire at Sever’s former home, owned by the landlord who was targeted in Salem Township.
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