Maine Man’s Homemade Doorway Booby Trap Kills Him on Thanksgiving

A Maine man was killed by a device he made for the front door of his home, according to officials, by unintentionally triggering it.

Ronald Cyr, 65, called 911 on the evening of Thanksgiving Day and reported he had been shot, the Van Buren Police Department said.

When officers arrived, they discovered a device on the front door of the man's home that was designed to fire a handgun if anyone attempted to enter, the department said.

Police found other unknown devices around the house to the degree of a higher level of investigation needed, so local authorities contacted the state's bomb squad.

After an hours-long investigation, authorities determined Cyr who regretfully later succumbed to his injuries, was hit after an "unintentional discharge of one of his homemade devices," the department said.

Van Buren, a predominantly rural town in northern Maine that is 320 miles from Portland, sits along the St. John River directly across the U.S.-Canada border.