Retired lawyer John Setzer, 74, died Monday after "an unknown package exploded," the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said.
His wife, 72-year-old Marion Setzer, was seriously injured and airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
A barrage of federal,
state and local authorities descended on the neighborhood near Lebanon,
Tennessee, about 30 miles east of Nashville. The FBI, U.S. postal
inspectors, the Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also investigating.
So far, they haven't publicly disclosed a motive. Those who knew the couple well are astonished.
"It doesn't make sense at all," family friend Ken Caldwell told CNN affiliate WTVF. "When I've heard it said that it was targeted, I thought, well, they must have targeted the wrong person."
A dedicated servant
Before he retired, John Setzer worked on bankruptcy and other cases.
His former law partner,
George Cate Jr., said Setzer was a dedicated servant and a pastor at
"little country churches." The two met while serving in the Army
Reserve.
Cate couldn't understand why anyone would want to target Setzer or his wife.
"I could hardly believe
what I was being told because nothing had happened in my recent times to
make me anticipate anything of this kind happening," Cate told CNN affiliate WZTV. "John and Marion Setzer are a great couple, and they have dedicated themselves to taking care of other people."
He remembered when the
couple's son John was killed by a dog at age 3. After that, whenever the
Setzers saw a news report about a child's death, they "would
immediately go and visit with the parents of that child and share
something of what they had gone through."
Cate and Setzer became
partners at the law firm bearing their names between 1979 and 1991.
Setzer worked on general civil cases and also specialized in living
trusts, his former partner said.
Cate said Setzer's love
of law became hampered by his health problems, which made it difficult
to respond to all his clients' needs. Setzer continued working from home
after leaving the office, but eventually decided to quit practicing,
Cate said.
Terrified of the mailbox
On the Setzers' quiet
rural street, neighbors were terrified about whether a bomb might arrive
in their mailbox. Some told WZTV that officers went house-to-house
Monday night to check mailboxes for devices.
"Of course it makes us a
little anxious to go check our own mailbox when we see something like
this happen, because normally boxes are delivered and mail is delivered,
and you don't question it," neighbor Tony Dedman told the affiliate.
Postal Inspectors have investigated an average of 16 mail bombs over the past few years, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said. By contrast, the Postal Service has processed more than 170 billion pieces of mail each of the past few years.
The agency said mail
bombs often have similar characteristics, such as a fake or non-existent
return address. They often have excessive postage attached to the
package because the sender doesn't want to deal face-to-face with a
window clerk.
An $8,000 reward is
available for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone
responsible for the attack on the Setzers. Anyone with information can
call 1-800-TBI-FIND.
