Birmingham woman sentenced for 2022 arson at Lakeview apartment complex

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - A Birmingham woman was sentenced for placing an incendiary device outside of an apartment on 4th Avenue South, announced a U.S. Attorney and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Nashville Field Division special agent.

A U.S. District Court judge sentenced 39-year-old Kimberly Lanetta Blackmon to 135 months in prison. In July 2024, Blackmon pleaded guilty to arson.

According to the plea agreement, in the early morning of Oct. 18, 2022, Blackmon forced her way into the lobby of Lakeview Green Apartments. Authorities say Blackmon then took the elevator to an apartment on the fourth floor that she believed belonged to an individual that was romantically linked to her ex-boyfriend. Blackmon leaned an improvised incendiary device against the apartment door and fled down a nearby stairwell. Moments later, the device exploded, creating a fireball that caused moderate damage to the door and the interior threshold of the apartment. Although the interior sprinkler system extinguished the fire before it could spread or cause injury, the device set by Blackmon caused nearly $470,000 in property damage.

ATF investigated the case along with the Birmingham Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Lee Gilmer prosecuted the case.

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