Man Hospitalized After Homemade Explosive Detonated At Stockton Mobile Home Park

STOCKTON (CBS13) – A man blew several fingers off his hand and received cuts on the rest of his body after a homemade bomb he allegedly made went off at a mobile home park in Stockton.

Neighbors say they found a man stumbling around without a hand.

"It was loud. It was like it was like a bomb went off," said trailer park manager Tianna Jones.

Witnesses say it was a deafening explosion inside the trailer park, right behind the Stockton City Motel.

"When I came, he had just blown off his hand," said Jones.

Jones says she saw the man bleeding everywhere.

"The pieces of the bomb kind of embedded into his face and he's missing four fingers," she said.

Police say that man is not a victim but rather a suspect after he built some sort of explosive device or weapon.

"Imagine if he would have made something bigger than that -- would have maybe blew out this whole place," said a resident.

"He definitely had a disregard for human safety last night when he was trying to make this type of weapon," said Stockton Police Officer Joseph Silva.

Investigators are also investigating claims the suspect was making a spud gun. The homemade weapons normally shoot pieces of potato, using different kinds of materials. They still can do major damage.

Jones says she doesn't buy the spud gun explanation.
"He was supposed to be making a potato launcher of some sort, with gun powder?" asked Jones.

A Stockton bomb squad had to come out and dispose of more explosive materials found in the trailer.

"It could have been way worse," said Jones. "He needs to be locked up for sure, for a long time, and he can't come back here, ever."

The suspect is still in the hospital, according to police. After his release, the district attorney will likely file charges.

Stockton police are also looking into where the man may have obtained the explosive materials.