Salem Man Dead After Setting Off Explosives

A Salem man assembled improvised explosive devices and set them off at his home Saturday morning, hours before police found him dead of what appeared to be self-inflicted wounds, authorities said.

Police officers received calls reporting an explosion and found the man had tossed several small devices from his residence and barricaded himself inside, police Lt. Conrad Prosniewski said.

Neighboring homes were evacuated and a state police bomb squad and a SWAT team were deployed; Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll urged motorists to stay away from the neighborhood. As police prepared to enter the home, several loud explosions were heard, what the mayor described on Twitter as "nerve wracking, but safe."

Police entered the residence about five hours into the standoff and found the man dead, authorities said, while the bomb squad combed the premises to secure them.

Prosniewski said the 45-year-old man, whose name was withheld pending notification of his family, was alone in the residence and did not exchange gunfire or communicate with officers before they found him dead. They did not say what his motive might have been.

The explosions and his death came the day after Halloween when tens of thousands of people flocked into Salem, an early American town known for its witch trials of the 1600s.