Jury finds Germantown man guilty of having WMDs

A jury has found a Germantown man guilty of having weapons of mass destruction following a May incident that resulted in most of his right hand being blown off. 

Douglas Ferrin, a 55-year-old artist who lives on the 100 block of West Queen Lane, was found making homemade explosives. His home is between a Sunoco gas station and an occupied residence. 

At around 4 a.m. on May 7, police were called to Ferrin’s house. They found him sitting on the steps, injured and covered in his own blood.  

Neighbor Kaniyah Nickson described the scene to NewsWorks shortly after that day.

“The other morning, we heard a loud boom, and then screaming,” Nickson said of the 4:05 a.m. explosion that brought a bomb squad to her block. “When they were taking him to the ambulance, he was screaming ‘I blew my fingers off.'”

“His entire hand was blown up. Skin, blood, bones — everywhere,” said Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Sweeney during the preliminary hearing in June. 

Ferrin faced similar charges in connection with a 2011 bathroom explosion at Molly Maguire’s Irish Restaurant in Phoenixville. He served six months in prison at that time.

Ferrin’s lawyer argued during trial that his explosives were only a harm to himself, and not to others.

Ferrin will be sentenced on April 10.