Quiet Town Shaken By Fatal Blast At Church Police Don’t Know If Victim Was Target

A man helping to prepare the bulletin at his church was killed when he stepped outside to shut a door and a bomb exploded.

Authorities don’t know if Brian Plawer was the target or just an unfortunate victim.

Vermilion County Sheriff Pat Hartshorn wouldn’t say Wednesday how sophisticated the bomb was, how it might have been triggered or if he had any suspects.

Plawer, 46, the superintendent of nearby Kickapoo State Park, was killed instantly Tuesday when he stepped outside of Oakwood United Methodist Church to close the door, which was causing a draft, a witness said.

“Then the next thing we heard was this explosion. It shook everything,” said Ruth Goulding, who was also helping out at the church.

“He was such a good guy. I thought everybody liked him. He sang in the choir. He was a liturgist. He was on the board. He was always helping,” she said.

The force of the blast sent one of Plawer’s shoes flying 100 feet.

Investigators have ruled out gas and electric utilities and believe a bomb was the source of the blast, Hartshorn said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms joined the investigation.

Several other volunteers and the pastor were in the church at the time of the explosion, which caused only minor damage to the building.

The bomb shook more than the church’s neighborhood in Oakwood, a central Illinois town of 1,500 where residents rarely lock homes or cars.

“You don’t have drive-by shootings here. You don’t have random bombings. The most crime is a little vandalism to someone’s home or yard,” said Ted Ashcraft, who felt the blast from his job at a car repair shop a block away.

Melissa Clendenen was in her nearby home with her young sons when she heard and felt a loud boom.

“Oakwood is nice and quiet. All of sudden they’re calling in all these people. And it’s really scary when they’re walking through your yards to find evidence,” she said.