MANCHESTER, Iowa -- Six months after a homemade cannon explosion killed an Edgewood woman, the man accused of firing it faces an involuntary manslaughter charge.
Max J. Fenton, 29, of Greeley, was arrested and charged Wednesday in Iowa District Court for Delaware County with the felony. He was released after posting a $5,000 bond and signing a document promising to appear in court Feb. 1.
Delaware County emergency responders were dispatched at about 11:40 p.m. July 2 to 109 Church St. in Greeley for a report of a woman with a serious head injury. Lori L. Heims, 55, who was at the residence with friends, was transported by ambulance to Regional Medical Center in Manchester. She then was airlifted to University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics in Iowa City, where she died.
Court documents state Fenton fired an "improvised cannon" loaded with explosive material.
"During the firing of the cannon, its improvised breech (at the base) failed, sending a fragment towards nearby spectators," court documents said.
Heims was hit in the head by the fragment.
Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere previously said the 13-inch cannon was made from the sawed-off barrel of a .50-caliber, black powder rifle. LeClere said Fenton reported using it previously without issue.
LeClere said Thursday that the delay in the criminal charge was due to a long wait for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations crime lab to test the cannon.
"We just got the report back last week," he said.
