Medieval Cosplayer Admits He Tried to Blow Up Romantic Rival With Pipe Bomb
THAT’S A WRAP
Clayton McCoy gift-wrapped an explosive device to give to the boyfriend of a woman who had rebuffed him, leaving it on the porch of their home, prosecutors said.
An Ohio man who drove seven hours to deliver a handmade, gift-wrapped bomb to his so-called romantic rival pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges on Wednesday, prosecutors said. Clayton McCoy, 32, left his victim with extensive injuries and serious burns after dropping off the boxed-up pipe bomb on the man’s front porch in October 2020. McCoy knew the victim—and the victim’s girlfriend—through a group called Dagorhir, which engaged in medieval live-action role-playing or “LARPing.” When McCoy expressed romantic feelings for the woman, she told him she did not share those feelings, reminding him that she was in a relationship, according to prosecutors. That was when he “devised a plan” to remove the boyfriend from the equation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which said he “purchased single items from multiple stores and paid for the materials in cash” to avoid detection. After McCoy delivered the bomb, disguised in a white gift box with a red ribbon around it, the victim opened it at his kitchen table. Some of the shrapnel from the resulting explosion remains in the man’s body to this day, according to authorities.
