Bomb squad agent still critical, other recuperating at home

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — One North Carolina bomb squad agent is home but another remains in critical condition more than a week after bomb-making materials blew up at the home of a man stopped with homemade explosives in his car.

The State Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday that agent Tim Luper was discharged from a hospital on Saturday and is recovering at home. The agency says Special Agent Brian Joy remains in critical condition at a Chapel Hill specialty burn treatment center with third-degree burns.

The agents were helping local law enforcement in a rural area southeast of Raleigh on July 26. Sampson County Sheriff Jimmy Thornton said the agents were gathering explosive materials taken from the suspect Jimmy Tyndall’s house in Dunn into a pile for disposal when a spark ignited one of the chemicals.