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Guns, Homemade Explosives, Target List Found During Walnut Hill Accidental Shooting Investigation
July 29, 2025
The man who accidentally shot himself last week near Walnut Hill is now facing multiple felony firearms and explosives charges, including charges related to multiple improvised homemade explosives. Authorities say he also had a potential target list.
Joshua Deen Hardy, 26, was charged with three counts of making or possession of a destructive device, using a firearm during a felony and possession of a firearm with the serial number removed. He remains in the Escambia County Jail Infirmary.
During a video appearance Monday, Judge Kerry Smith set Hardy’s bond at $65,000. If he makes bond, he will be required to stay in his home or on his porch, leaving only to go to doctor’s appointments. He is also not allowed to possess weapons, firearms, explosives or flammable substances. He was also ordered to stay away from fireworks shops, gun shops, or any place that sells substances or components related to explosives items. He is due back in court on August 22.
Last Wednesday, the man — now identified as Hardy — accidentally shot himself shortly after 3 a.m. while walking in the woods on family property at 5000 Sandy Hollow Road, just off West Highway 4. His grandmother told deputies that she received a call about 3:15 a.m. from Hardy who said he had tripped while walking on their property with his rifle and he had shot himself in the leg. She picked him up and drove him to Atmore Community Hospital.
She stated that “their old house on their property had burned down a while ago and they believe it to have been arson. Since then, Joshua Hardy will randomly get up early in the morning and ‘patrol” their property with his rifle,” an arrest report states. NorthEscambia.com reported on the fire on January 31, 2025.
At the emergency room in Atmore, Hardy told deputies that he often walks their 22-acre property because he does not like people there, the report states. He said he stepped in a hole and dropped his rifle, accidentally grabbing it as it fell by the trigger and shot himself. He was adamant that he was not shooting at anyone and had no intent of harming himself.
According to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Hardy suffered a serious gunshot wound that shattered his tibia and fibula and nearly took his left big toe.
Deputies responded to the property later in the day after receiving a tip, and they followed a trail of blood from the county right of way and into the woods and located the spot where Hardy shot himself. They reported finding a spent 7.62×39 AK-47 round next to a bloody area. A relative told deputies that the gun and other items that Hardy had with him at the time of the shooting were on top of a freezer in a shed on the property. They were given permission to search by the property owner.
- In a shed behind a vacant doublewide mobile home, deputies reported finding:
- Camo tactical vest with front and back armor plates and a handgun holster that contained a loaded 9mm pistol. The vest had two pistol magazine holders that contained loaded 9mm magazines. The vest had a medical pouch with supplies attached and “what appeared to be some kind of homemade incendiary device with a long fuse”.
- AK-47 style rifle Kevlar helmet AK-47 drum magazine loaded with live rounds
- A total of 49 live 9mm rounds in the magazines and gun
- A total of 118 live 7.62×39 AK-47 rounds in the magazines
- Cigarette lighter
- Cigarette pack containing one cigarette
A Florida Department of Financial Services Criminal Investigations Division bomb disposal unit and the ECSO bomb disposal unit responded, secured the alleged incendiary device and rendered it safe, according to the arrest report.
Relatives told deputies that Hardy has paranoid and manic episodes and feels like people, including law enforcement, are out to get him, the report continues.
The homemade device was described by state officials as being a destructive device found in the vest was essentially a cardboard tube with flash powder like obtained from consumer fireworks and a hobby fuse.
A search warrant was later served and deputies reported finding multiple items in Hardy’s room:
- Destructive device taped to plastic bottles on the bedroom floor
- A .22 calibre revolver with the serial number and model obliterated
- Black duct tape
- Silencer in a box on the top shelf of the closet multiple journals and notebooks
- A hobby fuse
- Destructive device with screws in a dresser drawer
- Plastic container of screws in a nightstand Cardboard box of screws in the closet
- Pouch containing multiple SD cards and USB drives found in a closet
- Apple iPhone, two Apple iPads, Verizon tablet, and an Amazon tablet in the closet
- A backpack with magazines and ammunition
- 12-gauge shotgun
- mixed Tannerite in the closet
- Ruger .300 caliber rifle with 20 rounds of ammunition
- Browning .270 caliber rifle with four rounds of ammunition and an ammo sleeve with seven rounds of ammunition
- ammunition can with additional ammunition
- hand drawn map of the property
Deputies also reported finding an OPFOR list of names in Hardy’s bedroom. OPFOR is a term commonly used in military training and exercises that is short for “Opposing Forces” to represent an enemy.
Investigators recovered two mortar plugs from the front yard and an unknown manufacturer or caliber firearm with wooden stock from a shed.
The bomb squad took custody of the destructive devices, a mortar and pestle with black powder and mixed Tannerite.
The ECSO report states that all three devices (one from the tactical vest and two from Hardy’s room) were “viable destructive devices”, based upon the training and experience of the state bomb technician.
Comments
15 Responses to “Guns, Homemade Explosives, Target List Found During Walnut Hill Accidental Shooting Investigation”
A silencer… these people watch to many movies. Black tape, is that the super scary kind of tacticool tape the Marines use? Holy cow, a single cigarette! The Dora the Explorer hand drawn map of his own property is crossing a line for sure. Thank got they didn’t find a box of cheerios in the cupbord.
So what’s the illegal stuff they found now?
Tannerite = legal black powder=legal
Ammunition = legal 300 cal. rifle=legal
Silencer =potentially illegal without a tax stamp black duct tape=legal
ak47 = legal fuse=legal
9mm handgun = legal flash powder=legal
armor plate carrier = legal 12 gauge shotgun=legal
270 rifle = legal
22 revolver without serial numbers= potentially illegal if stolen, your not required to register firearms
screws in cardboard box=legal
screws in a bottle with tannerite strapped to the sides=potentially illegal if you were gonna use as a booby trap.
You have have to impact tannerite pretty hard with a high power round to even get it to explode . Wth is a “live” round, is there a dead round? this is America right? Even if the guy has mental problems that does not mean he cant own everything on that list. Now having a list of names is a bit concerning but not illegal. Have a great day!
There are two types of shooting, intentional and negligent. Intentional shooting is when you mean to fire the weapon. Negligent shooting involves handling a firearm in an unsafe manner i.e. loaded, round chambered, safety off, finger on trigger. If you can’t recite these four rules from memory you shouldn’t carry a firearm:
1. Treat evert firearm as if it was loaded.
2. Don’t point the firearm at anything you don’t intend to shoot.
3. Keep the safety on until ready to fire.
4. Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire.
Citizen for firearms and firearm safety.
This man should not be released to the public and is a threat to the general public
It states that they suspected that arson caused their house to burn down. After looking at what police found in his room, I would re-visit that investigation.
“Well” said
“But there are a LOT of people that have those exact same items in one form or another.”
So do you? The ATF would be interested in the lots of people with serials numbers obliterated. That will get you.
Definitely sounds like an issue here.
But there are a LOT of people that have those exact same items in one form or another.
It’s not about gun rights when you have:
An OPFOR
a gun with the model and serial obliterated
explosives
screws stored nearby in a bedroom
a potential history of mental issues
And the journals and notebooks — we don’t know what they contained. Manifestos? Plans for schools? Milk and cookies in a grocery list?
I’m all for gun rights, but this is domestic terrorism in the making.
Great job Deputies and all involved in finding all this during your investigation and not just letting it slide by as an accidental shooting. No doubt you have saved many lives by doing this, but my concern is with the judicial system giving him such a weak bond that way if he does get out on bond then there is a strong possibility he is not going to abide by your rules. He is a loose cannon, seriously!! Many people are in Danger including his poor family. If he gets out now he is going to be even more paranoid that people have caught on to his CRAZINESS. This man should be locked up. No BOND. I’ve seen less criminal charges put on people that didn’t put people in harm get more time or higher bonds than this. Come on, seriously!
For the safety of the community and himself, lock him up!
Note to self : Avoid Sandy Hollow Road by a few miles .
@Wondering next accident…falling through the porch or floorboards.
This is tragic for the family- monitor a paranoid person who lives on 22 acres and make sure they stay in their trailer and only go out on the porch ? Fireworks and explosive materials should be harder to come by – at least in Alabama. Lillian has quite a few drug addicts strolling about, yet the law allows fireworks to be stored in a trailer year round – right next to a gas station.
Sometimes you wonder who is nuts – the people who might throw a match or flammable material underneath this time-bomb or the officials who approve this crazy set-up
If he had a hit list, it sounds like it was Providence that he accidentally shot himself. It really makes one wonder just what all has been going on in his mind, and what set him on this apparent path of destruction. Great job law enforcement officers, for looking beyond this accidental shooting. You probably have saved a number of innocent lives.
I wonder if he will obey the law and not go off his porch. He should remain in custody for the safety of others.