Brevard man involved in 2021 incendiary device case receives probation

Nov 13, 2023

Terry Lee Barham, the man accused of setting several incendiary devices in downtown Brevard in March of 2021, pleaded guilty last week to three counts of manufacturing and discharging pyrotechnics.

Judge Peter B. Knight sentenced Barham to 24 months of supervised probation during Superior Court. On Sunday, March 14, 2021, several incendiary devices were found around downtown Brevard and several buildings, including First Baptist Church of Brevard and the county’s Community Services Building, had to be evacuated while officers from local, state and federal agencies swept the area. Much of downtown was shut down for the majority of the day.

Barham was later arrested on several felony charges, including three counts of terrorism. According to court documents, law enforcement found 18 devices in total, all made of various materials. In a search warrant, Brevard Police Det. Sgt. Aaron Thompson described the device found outside of First Baptist Church as “a San Pellegrino sparkling water can cut in half containing an ignited fluid into which a hobby-fuse was inserted. The fuse entered into a cardboard tube, which contained an unknown powder later determined to be consistent with explosive or incendiary powder.”

Thompson said the device was attached to a ripped piece of cardboard packaging which contained the remnants of an address label that read “…ON ST/ VARD, NC United States.” This, along with surveillance camera footage, led authorities to Barham’s house on South Johnson Street. Barham’s residence was just across the street from the dentist’s office and around the corner from the Community Services Building where most of the devices were found. The Transylvania Times spoke with First Baptist Pastor Jeff Maynard, who said a member of his security team found the device just after it had been lit and was able to extinguish the fuse before it ignited. Some of the materials allegedly used to make other devices found were various cardboard tubes, PVC pipes, wooden or PVC end caps sealed with epoxy and/or electrical tape and a prescription bottle, according to the search warrant.

At Barham’s house the search warrant said officers found several items consistent with the materials used to make the devices found around downtown Brevard in Barham’s yard including: PVC pipes, San Pellegrino sparkling water cans, electrical tape and a bottle of acetone. Authorities also found a bottle rocket and a bottle rocket stem in Barham’s yard.

The warrant also stated one of Barham’s next door neighbors said she heard several “loud bangs” one week prior to the incident between 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

After Knight issued the search warrant for Barham’s house, investigators seized several pieces of evidence from Barham’s house and vehicles including multiple components of homemade IEDs, bags of activated charcoals, sulfur powder, aluminum oxide powder, aluminum flakes, potassium nitrate, a roll of hobby fuse, a laptop, an intact IED from Barham’s shed and other various items, according to court documents.

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