Family in Roy jolted awake by blast of ‘tennis ball bomb’ in possible targeted attack

A family in Roy was awakened by a blast at four in the morning and the homeowner found his truck damaged in what he’s calling a domestic terror attack.

The homeowner, Daniel Kingshott, and Pierce County deputies believe this is a targeted attack because the home is on a dead-end road in unincorporated Pierce County, a place too far out of anyone’s way for the homemade bomb to end up on Kingshott’s truck at random.

“Whoever this was basically came down an unlit gravel drive almost 1000 feet on a dead end in the middle of the night with no street lights and basically approached and put a bomb on my car,” said Kingshott.

The explosion, that ripped through the dark, quiet Roy night is still ringing in Daniel’s memory several days later.

“I have three minors in my house right now, one of them has just turned 2 years old,” Daniel said.

“Frankly, these people could have done much more damage,” he added. “This was significant. We’re obviously now threatened in our home.”

Daniel said when the bomb went off he peeked outside but didn’t see anything. When the sun came up he saw the damage to his truck: a shattered windshield and hood lifted up the hinges. He called the police.

“They [Pierce County Deputies] pointed out the smell of gunpowder on the truck and the fact that there was bits of green fluff everywhere,” said Daniel.

“It’s not really often that we have somebody using explosives to either send a message and threaten someone or commit vandalism,” said Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Darren Moss.

That person also avoided cameras when police said they placed the homemade tennis ball bomb on Daniel’s truck.

Daniel said he’s called deputies several times since Saturday to tell them who he thinks is behind the attack but says so far they haven’t done anything. He says every night he now has to stand watch.

“I’m also a federal contractor so from my perspective this is domestic terrorism,” Daniel said. “My only choice now is to exercise my Second Amendment rights, right? I didn’t want to bring firearms and guns into my home but I now feel like I don’t have a choice.”

Pierce County Sheriff’s office acknowledged Daniel’s complaints and said they are still working to find who’s responsible for the explosive. That bomb did about $10,000 of damage to Daniel’s truck.

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