Hazleton Police Officer Charged with Attempted Homicide in Kelayres Bombing

An officer with Hazleton Police Dept. is charged with attempted homicide and other offenses related to a December bombing in Kelayres.

According to arrest documents released Tuesday, Ladell Emery Hannon is suspected of planting and detonating a bucket bomb outside the home of his estranged wife’s boyfriend in Kelayres, Kline Twp., back on the morning of Dec. 21, 2021.

Hannon was arraigned before District Judge Stephen Bayer in Tamaqua on Monday. Bayer sent Hannon to Schuylkill County Prison on $1 million bail.

The officer has been suspended from his job at Hazleton PD.

Hazleton Police Officer Charged with Attempted Homicide in Kelayres Bombing

Back during the early morning hours – about 5:30 – on Dec. 21, police say Harrison Jordan, 33, walked outside his home at 3 Center St. in Kelayres. That’s where he spotted a bucket with a lit fuse near the front door.

Jordan tried running away from the bucket but couldn’t get far enough from it when it detonated.

The explosion severely damaged Jordan’s home, several other buildings on that same block, as well as multiple vehicles in the area. Police say all the windows from a nearby church were blown out during the explosion. And Jordan’s residence was left uninhabitable.

Jordan, himself, sustained serious injuries as a result of the blast. Police say he suffered a ruptured right eardrum, a bruised left ear drum, bleeding caused by shrapnel that trailed from the back of his head down to his feet, a burn to the back of his right calf, and glass and concrete embedded into him.

When police interviewed Jordan at the hospital where he was receiving care for the injuries allegedly sustained during the bombing, he fingered Hannon as a likely suspect. Jordan said he’d been dating Hannon’s estranged wife and that wasn’t sitting well with the Hazleton officer.

Suspicions Started in August

Jordan told police that Hannon previously showed up twice at his house when his wife, Danielle, was visiting.

And he’d started getting suspicious that someone had been breaking into his Kline Twp. apartment back in August 2021. He’d only just moved in back in April.

In August, Jordan told police that he believed someone had broken into his home and taken a picture. At that point, Jordan said he purchased a surveillance camera and situated it inside the front door.

Then, in October, Jordan said he was at a “training” with Danielle Hannon and got an alert from his surveillance camera app, notifying him of activity inside his apartment. So, Jordan called Kline Twp. police, he said, and asked if they could check on his apartment.

Police waited for Jordan to arrive back home and they checked and found no one inside. Later, Jordan checked surveillance footage and saw an intruder in his apartment. He believed that person was Ladell Hannon.

Jordan turned over video to Kline Twp. PD but then advised them not to pursue the matter at that time because he believed it “would do more harm than good.”

October Break-In

On Oct. 28, State Police learned, Ladell Hannon is suspected of again breaking into Jordan’s home and taking his surveillance camera. They learned this at the scene of the bombing. Kline Twp. Police approached State Police investigators and shared video they’d received while investigating a burglary at the scene of the bombing.

State Police say the surveillance footage obtained shows Ladell Hannon taking Jordan’s camera.

10 Days Prior to Bombing

On Dec. 11, Jordan said Danielle Hannon came to his apartment to pick him up. They were planning a trip to the mall.

As she arrived to get Jordan, Ladell Hannon called his estranged wife on the phone, he said. About a minute later, Ladell showed up at Jordan’s home, driving a white Honda Accord, Jordan told police. Ladell had the couple’s two children in the vehicle with him at this time.

Jordan said Ladell got out of his vehicle and started getting loud with Jordan. Jordan told State Police that Ladell was yelling something along the lines of “Are you ****ing my wife?” He also claims that Ladell said he was “going to get him” and that Jordan would “get what’s coming for him.”

Audio from this incident was picked up on the surveillance camera, police say in their arrest papers.

In an interview with police following the bombing, Danielle Hannon told police she suspected her husband was tracking her. And through investigation, police learned that Ladell Hannon had, indeed, purchased several GPS tracking devices.

And while Danielle was at PSP-Frackville barracks for this interview, police searched her vehicle and found such a device on the undercarriage of her vehicle.

Day of Bombing

On the morning of the bombing, police say through surveillance footage they’ve obtained from McAdoo Grocery on Blaine St. showing what they believe to be Hannon’s Honda driving toward the scene of the incident at Jordan’s residence.

Police say that Hannon drove toward Jordan’s place at 4:57 a.m.

Surveillance footage also captures the sound of the suspected bomb detonating at 5:21 a.m.

During questioning, Hannon denies any involvement in the bombing. But police believe that between surveillance video and license plate tracking technology employed by the City of Hazleton, they can put Ladell Hannon at the scene of the bombing.

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