Man sentenced for bombing home in Carroll County to kill romantic rival

by: Gabby Allen

Posted: Aug 29, 2023 / 04:37 PM EDT

Updated: Aug 29, 2023 / 04:37 PM EDT

BALTIMORE, Md. (DC News Now) — The U.S. Department of Justice announced that a man from Ohio was sentenced to federal prison in connection with an explosion at a house in Carroll County, Md.

Clayton Alexander McCoy, 32, of Chesterland, Ohio, built a bomb at his house and drove it to a home in Carroll County belonging to the boyfriend of a woman he was interested in. Police said McCoy had the intent to kill him.

McCoy had known the woman for a few years through a live-action role-playing game. He expressed feelings for her in Oct. 2020, but she said she was in a relationship and did not share the same feelings.

After being rejected, he started planning on building and delivering a bomb to her boyfriend’s house to kill him. McCoy made shrapnel for the inside of the bomb by cutting scrap metal into small, triangular pieces, in order to increase the deadliness of the pipe bomb when it exploded.

He placed the bomb into a white gift box, tied with a red ribbon. The bomb would explode when the gift box was opened. He put the gift box into another cardboard box with a shipping and address label.

On Oct. 30, 2020, McCoy drove about seven hours from Ohio to Carroll County and placed the bomb on the victim’s front porch a little before 8:30 a.m. The boyfriend’s grandfather saw the package, brought it inside and placed it on the kitchen counter.

It sat there until the boyfriend came home.

Eventually, he saw the cardboard box addressed to him and the white gift box inside. He texted his girlfriend to ask her if she sent him a present, then took both boxes into his bedroom to open the “gift” in private.

While opening it, the bomb detonated and he was struck in the front of his body by shrapnel. He was also injured on his chest and legs.

After being released from the hospital, he underwent multiple surgeries and had to use a walker. Pieces of shrapnel still remain in his body.

The damage to his home was so great that his grandparents were forced to live elsewhere. The insurance company suffered a loss of over $70,000.

McCoy was sentenced to almost 22 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for transporting explosives with the intent to injure and possessing an unregistered firearm/explosive device.

He was also ordered to pay restitution of over $96,000 – the estimated cost of the loss done to the house.