An Oneida County correction officer was severely injured Sunday after opening an explosive package sent to his Old Floyd Road home in the Town of Floyd. The Oneida County Sheriff's Office reported that the 52-year-old unidentified officer's upper body was severely burned in the explosion, which happened around 8 a.m. Sunday. Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol said in a statement on Facebook the officer was initially sent to St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica for treatment and later transported to SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital in Syracuse. The explosion led to a closure on Old Floyd Road for several hours on Sunday while an investigation was underway, during which residents were asked to stay in their homes.
The officer works for the New York State Department of Corrections, but it was not immediately clear if the incident is connected to his employment, Maciol said. Oneida County is home to three medium-security New York State prisons that house inmates from across the state.
Governor Andrew Cuomo stopped at Upstate University Hospital to visit the family of the officer. Cuomo said Upstate's burn unit is the best place for him to be.
"We'll keep our fingers crossed and we pray for the best. With burns, it's a long road. Infection is the fear and is the enemy," Cuomo told reporters.
"Sometimes we take the men and women of the corrections department for granted. We have 54,000 people in state prisons. These people are not there because they're model citizens. These are dangerous, dangerous places to work. So we'll see if it's job related, but in any event he's a member of the family of New York state," said Cuomo.
Cuomo said he has ordered a full investigation to find those responsible and that the FBI is assisting local and state investigators.