Package Explodes, Killing Retired Lawyer at His Home

Jon Setzer, 74, died Monday near Lebanon, Tenn.
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 12, 2014 11:19 AM CST
Package Explodes, Killing Retired Lawyer at His Home
Law Enforcement cars fill the front yard of a rural home in Lebanon, Tenn. where a package sent there exploded Monday, killing 74-year-old lawyer Jon Setzer and injuring 72-year-old Marion Setzer, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014.   (AP Photo/The Tennessean, Larry McCormack)

A 74-year-old retired lawyer is dead after "an unknown package exploded" at his rural Tennessee home Monday, and locals are rattled. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and ATF agents are investigating the death of Jon Setzer, but so far they've stayed mum on motive, and the Tennessean reports that agents aren't even saying exactly where the blast happened, how the package arrived at his home, or what explosives might have been used. But WZTV reports neighbors were told the package arrived via mail and exploded in Setzer's home.

His wife, 72-year-old Marion Setzer, was seriously injured and has been hospitalized. Setzer, who lived about 30 miles east of Nashville near Lebanon, Tenn., worked on general civil cases, bankruptcy, and living trusts, says his former partner. He, like Setzer's friends and neighbors, are in disbelief. "When I've heard it said that it was targeted, I thought, well, they must have targeted the wrong person," says one. CNN reports that USPS inspectors have investigated just 16 mail bombs in recent years. (More John Setzer stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X