Police: 81-year-old man killed in blast intentionally set off device at Ala home for elderly

Police: 81-year-old set off device that killed him

DECATUR, Ala. — Police say an 81-year old man died in an explosion he set off intentionally in his third-floor room at an Alabama home for senior citizens.

Police say Larry Gene Thurman was killed about 9:30 p.m. Monday at Summer Manor Apartments. It is a complex managed by the Decatur Housing Authority.

Decatur police Sgt. Roger Archer said Tuesday that Thurman intentionally detonated the homemade device.

The housing authority evacuated about 75 residents to a nearby motel. Officials say one with a medical condition was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

Decatur Fire Marshal Darwin Clark told The Associated Press that volatile liquids and gases were in the apartment. He says investigators aren’t clear how the explosives were detonated or what the motive might have been.