Police say 59-year-old Wade Dwayne Woods crafted a booby trap with a shotgun so that his extended family members couldn't serve him with eviction papers to kick him out of their property. Authorities say Marisa Johnson, his niece, narrowly escaped with her life after she opened the screen door to her family-owned trailer in Odessa Monday and unknowingly triggered the terrifying blast through the front door. Johnson, 22, incredibly suffered only minor injuries to her hands due to broken glass.
The Odessa Police Department Bomb Squad was brought in to determine if further traps had been placed inside the trailer before it was safely entered and found unoccupied. Wade Dwayne Woods, the alleged man behind the deadly stunt, was arrested at a nearby motel early Tuesday morning. He is charged with three felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Abbie Griffis, 19, and her 2-year-old son, who witnessed the attack from their vehicle, contributing to two of those charges.
A search warrant revealed that the trap was composed of a 12-guage wood stock shotgun, a C-clamp, a black three-position adjustable clamp, fishing string line and plastic ties. Though such a terrifying attack is rare, Ector County Sgt. Gary Duesler says the fear is always there while serving out an eviction notice. "It's always in the back of your mind," Duesler told the Daily News. "You never know what's on the other side of that door. It's personal." Duesler blamed a recent boom for the loss of housing in the area for many longtime residents. His department currently serves out an average of two evictions a day he said. "There's no places for them to go. They can't build houses fast enough," he said while stressing local hotel rooms costing anywhere from $150 to $400 a night. Woods' bond was last set at $75,000.
Original article HERE from Daily News.
