UPDATE: On Oct. 24, Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation officials released a description and still photographs from video surveillance of two people investigators are seeking to question in connection with the Oct. 21 bomb scare at the State Capitol. -Ed.
State investigators are searching for two people with suspected ties to Tuesday’s bomb scare at the State Capitol building.
The discovery of what was initially suspected to be an improvised explosive device drew a large law enforcement response and led to the Capitol’s evacuation Tuesday. The incident remains under investigation by a number of local and federal agencies, including the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Officials from DCI, the lead investigative agency, announced Wednesday afternoon that video footage has identified two “subjects of interest.” The agency is working with federal officials to identify them, and has also asked for the public’s help.
Authorities initially described the device as a potential IED – the type of small homemade bomb made by insurgents in foreign combat zones. Having decommissioned and analyzed the package, which a bomb squad removed from the Capitol grounds, DCI officials in Wednesday’s press release switched from referring to it as an IED to a “suspicious object.” The object was “likely a deconstructed live firework munition with a fuse,” the release read.
In a brief phone interview with WyoFile, DCI Commander Ryan Cox said he did not believe the device had the explosive potency to harm nearby people had it exploded.
“I don’t think it had the capabilities,” he said. Still, he said it was too early to describe what the intention was behind placing the device outside the Capitol.
Tuesday’s scare came in a year marked by politically motivated violence, with the assassination of a Democrat state lawmaker in Minnesota and of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a speaking event in Utah, among other incidents.
And though the device now appears less menacing than originally feared, whoever left the deconstructed firework munition still disrupted the seat of Wyoming government.
On Tuesday morning, a pedestrian found the object lying on the Great Seal of Wyoming, which is embedded in the concrete outside the Capitol building, according to a Wyoming Highway Patrol news release. The state seal, which features a woman in the center holding a banner proclaiming “Equal Rights” as well as references to mining and livestock, is located at the bottom of the grand staircase at the Capitol’s south, and principal entrance.
The pedestrian carried the item inside and brought it to the attention of the Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers who guard the Capitol.
At 9:45 a.m., WHP ordered the Capitol evacuated. A bomb squad staffed by Laramie County deputies and Cheyenne police officers removed the package from the building. The bomb squad, along with FBI agents, decommissioned and analyzed the device.
The building, and some nearby streets, were closed off during an investigation that went into the evening. While the surrounding streets were all reopened by 4:30 p.m., the Capitol remained closed until Wednesday morning.
When the evacuation order was issued, Gov. Mark Gordon, State Treasurer Curt Meier and State Auditor Kristi Racines were all gathered in the Capitol Extension for a regular meeting of the Wyoming Stable Token Commission. They abruptly halted the meeting to evacuate.
On Wednesday, business had resumed as usual in the statehouse, a spokesperson for Gov. Mark Gordon told WyoFile that morning.
In their request to the public for assistance, DCI officials said they are particularly interested in video footage, images or information about “suspicious activity” at the statehouse between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. Tuesday.
I can’t believe that someone actually picked that suspicious device up and carried it into the building! So dangerous. If you see something like that, alert the police but don’t touch it or move it!