Federal Charges Filed Against Walnut Hill Man Allegedly Found With Homemade Explosives, Target List

August 23, 2025

A Walnut Hill man who accidentally shot himself near Walnut Hill in July has now been indicted on federal charges.

Joshua Dean Hardy, 26, was indicted in federal court for two counts of unlawful possession of firearm under the National Firearms Act (NFA), namely two unregistered and unserialized silencers and a destructive device, and one count of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Hardy was in court on Friday on local charges of 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.

He is scheduled for arraignment before United States Magistrate Judge Hope T. Cannon at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola, Florida, on August 28, 2025. If convicted on the federal counts as charged, Hardy faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment as it relates to each of the NFA violations, and another five years for his possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

His trail on local charges is currently set for October 20.

Hardy accidentally shot himself shortly after 3 a.m. on July 23 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

2 Responses to “Federal Charges Filed Against Walnut Hill Man Allegedly Found With Homemade Explosives, Target List”

  1. Susie on August 27th, 2025 10:18 am

    Put this maniac away TOMORROW, Judge. Send him to the first max security Mental Health Care facility. This guy is crazy dangerous!

  2. Merry on August 25th, 2025 9:07 am

    While a lot of those things are legal, As a former EOD tech I think a lot of this stuff needs to be illegal Tannerite needs to go. If you are firing at a target and cant afford binoculars to see if you can hit a target then walk down to the target. IF you cant see the target then maybe you should get glasses or not shoot guns?
    Growing up farmers were able to get dynamite to blow out stumps and things. They had to get on a list to get it. It wasnt as easy and going online and ordering it to come to your house. Boys like this are dangerous and evidently wouldn’t have been found out but because of his uneducated explosive knowledge and being clumsy.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News