Greensboro man accused of explosives and fires gets Nov. 3 trial

A Greensboro man accused of setting off explosives and starting fires near his home now has a Nov. 3 trial date in Guilford County Superior Court. The case has moved from neighborhood complaints to a felony prosecution that includes allegations of repeated explosive activity, bomb-making materials and multiple firearms.

Jon Ksor, 21, was arrested Jan. 31 after investigators linked him to reports of loud explosions and small fires that residents said began in late January around his residence in Greensboro. Court records say the case escalated after a Jan. 29 traffic stop for speeding near his home. During that stop, officers said Ksor was carrying a handgun without a permit.

Investigators later said they found a pipe bomb near an unoccupied house close to where the stop occurred. Police then searched Ksor’s home and said they found bomb-making materials, along with a handgun and a rifle. Federal agents assisted in the investigation, underscoring how quickly the case moved beyond a routine local complaint and into a broader public-safety inquiry.

The charges now in play include five counts of felony manufacture or possession of a weapon of mass death and destruction and three counts of felony malicious use of explosives. Under North Carolina law, G.S. 14-288.8 makes it unlawful to manufacture, assemble, possess, store, transport, sell, purchase, deliver or acquire a weapon of mass death and destruction. G.S. 14-49 classifies malicious use of explosive or incendiary material as a felony.

Earlier allegations tied the incidents to trees damaged on Jan. 20, Jan. 25 and Jan. 29, according to arrest warrants. That timeline suggests investigators were not dealing with a single flash point, but with a string of events spread across several days near one Greensboro neighborhood. Ksor was being held on a $500,000 bond as the case moved toward the Superior Court calendar.

For residents near the area, the key facts now are the dates and the venue: repeated explosions and fires in late January, a traffic stop that led to a pipe bomb discovery, a home search that produced more evidence, and a Nov. 3 trial date at the Guilford County Courthouse in Greensboro. The court proceeding will be the next chance for prosecutors to lay out how the alleged incidents fit together.