Police: 2 pipe bombs found inside home where man was killed

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department detectives said Al Brewer, 65, was found dead inside his southeast Charlotte home Monday afternoon.

CMPD originally said Brewer died a natural death but Tuesday officers said it turned into a homicide investigation .
 
Neighbors told Eyewitness News they can't believe what happened in a normally very quiet area.
 
"It's a real nice, quiet neighborhood and things like this usually don't happen," Stan Wetmore said.
 
But for more than 24 hours, Eyewitness News has been at what has turned into a crime scene and a bomb scare.
 
Friends said Brewer grew up in the home on Sharon Amity Road.
 
"He was a likeable guy and I hated when I heard it," Jim Adrian, a friend of Brewers', said. "I hated it real bad."
 
Adrian said he doesn't know of anyone who would want to hurt Brewer, who he described as a friendly guy who went to high school at Meyer's Park. Adrian said Brewer spent his days at home, working with his hands, collecting antique tools and making small, homemade bombs that he would then set off in the woods, away from people.
 
"It wasn't public enemy No. 1," Adrian explained. "He didn't do things like that. He just had a little hobby, you know."
 
That hobby brought the bomb squad to the home to detonate the two homemade pipe bombs.
 
"It's a lot of excitement," Wetmore said. "More than we want, really."
 
Detectives looked through the trash Tuesday outside Brewers' home, not wanting to miss anything in their investigation.
Police have not named a suspect.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.

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