NJ dad and son plead guilty to firing cannon that disemboweled bystander

💥A father and son admitted firing a homemade cannon signal in a park

💥A man standing 75 feet away was hit in the torso by shrapnel

💥Thomas Kaiser will likely spend 6 years in prison

MANVILLE — A father and son with a history of causing public disruptions with explosives are facing time behind bars for publicly firing a homemade signal cannon that disemboweled a bystander and damaged private property.

Thomas Kaiser, 60, and Erich Kaiser, 29,  pleaded guilty to firing off a signal cannon on July 6 at a park, according to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. Shards from the device’s metal tube flew off in different directions, going through walls of homes and hitting the torso of Walter "Wally" Versfelt, 34, who was 75 feet from the Kaisers' device.

Thomas Kaiser pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, causing or risking widespread injury or damage, and aggravated assault by recklessly causing bodily injury with a deadly weapon. He faces a possible six-year prison term.

Erich Kaiser pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and fourth-degree aggravated assault by recklessly causing bodily injury.  He faces a possible sentence of probation with a suspended term of 180 days in county jail

They will be sentenced on May 23.

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Intestines falling out

Walter "Wally" Versfelt told New Jersey 101.5 he immediately fell to the ground after being struck.

"I dropped to the ground and my intestines were pretty much falling out of my body. Next thing you know, there's just people running, running up to me, trying to help me out. That's pretty much all I really remember about it." Versfelt said.

Versfelt was taken by ambulance to a waiting medical helicopter, which flew him to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. He was put into a medically induced coma for four days. A GoFundMe fundraiser created to help with expenses said Versfelt had 10 surgeries in three weeks, including five during the week after the explosion.

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Disrupting a Labor Day parade

In 2019, Thomas Kaiser was arrested after four devices were found at his home, which was at the beginning of the route of the scheduled South Plainfield Labor Day Parade. Gov. Phil Murphy and first lady Tammy Murphy had been expected to march.

The investigation began days before the parade after a suspicious package was found at Donovan’s Reef in Sea Bright. The band that had played at the bar told police the package had been a fireworks gift from Kaiser, a longtime fan of the group.

The Monmouth County prosecutor at the time said that the devices were not fireworks but "rudimentary explosive devices, similar to the size of a cut-up coffee can that had fuses as well as gunpowder in and around it."

Thomas Kaiser pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of prohibited weapons and one count of tampering with physical evidence. He was sentenced to a year of probation. Kaiser was forced to surrender his legally owned firearms and purchase permit.

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