Two strange and potentially life-threatening crimes put Haverhill residents on edge in 2024.
A backyard “pipe bomb,” thought capable of sending shrapnel up to 300 yards away, caused the evacuation of Haverhill homes last July, while a gunfight at a Haverhill hotel left a 20-year-old seriously injured in March.
In July, Haverhill Police charged 63-year-old David Farnsworth with making the pipe bomb with the intent to injure and making terroristic threats, among other charges. Police were initially alerted by a relative who said Farnsworth, reportedly battling a serious illness and suffering from depression, claimed to have been “building a bomb to kill himself and others.”
Police evacuated surrounding neighbors near the Methuen line, off Routes 110 and 113, including the densely populated Churchill Courts apartment complex. The State Police Bomb Squad determined the three-foot tall explosive “was a functioning device” and that nearby homes “would have been impacted by any explosion.” Roads in the area were closed for State Police-supervised detonations. Remaining materials found after a search were taken to the Haverhill Public Works garage for what was described as “a controlled burn.”
A shootout outside a Haverhill hotel in March was initially called a carjacking, but both participants appeared to suffer gunshot wounds. They included a 20-year-old Lawrence man and another man possibly from Revere. After gunfire was exchanged, the latter man drove off in the 20-year-old’s 2019 Honda CRV. According to residents’ home security videos, the car was ditched it on New Hampshire Avenue and the man walked toward South Elm Street while appearing to “check his lower torso area for a wound.”
While saying he was not the principal shooter, police arrested 24-year-old Methuen man and charged him with armed carjacking, assault with intent to murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying loaded firearm without a license, possession of a large capacity feeding device, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building and improper storge of a firearm.
At the hotel entrance, police found two spent 9mm shell casings and one live 9mm round along with broken car window glass and cannabis packages that had fallen from the car. Video footage suggested to show the 20-year-old victim and shooter fighting over something in the car’s center console.