Investigators in Wyoming are on the hunt for two individuals suspected of placing a homemade bomb outside the state Capitol, leading to the building’s evacuation after a passerby discovered it and inadvertently brought it inside.
Amid a climate of heightened political tension in the United States, the incident temporarily disrupted the calm of Cheyenne, Wyoming’s usually tranquil capital. The area buzzed with activity as drones circled overhead and officers with bomb-sniffing dogs meticulously searched the Capitol grounds. However, by the following day, the sense of normalcy had returned.
Despite the previous day’s scare, no heightened security measures were apparent at the 135-year-old sandstone Capitol, a place where visitors typically enjoy unfettered access to some of the state’s top officials.
Jaume Vilar, a tourist from England visiting with his teenage son, remarked, “It’s a fantastic reflection of an almost blissful trust in people. It’s positive and should be maintained.”
The suspicious device was left early Tuesday morning. According to Ryan Cox, Commander of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, the object was essentially a “deconstructed live firework munition with a fuse,” measuring under a foot (30 centimeters) in length. It was not equipped for remote detonation.
“It would have needed to be ignited manually, with a lighter or something similar,” Cox explained.
It was not in a bag or other container when put on the state seal, a round, 10-foot-wide (3-meter-wide) decoration of inlaid stone midway between the Capitol front steps and the street, sometime between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.. The seal is cordoned off behind a chain.
The unidentified passerby, whom authorities soon ruled out as a suspect, brought the object into the building. An evacuation ensued at 9:45 a.m. and lasted all day.
Those evacuated included Gov. Mark Gordon, who along with the state treasurer and state auditor was in a committee meeting in a nearby basement-level conference room. Workers in two nearby state office buildings sheltered in place until being allowed to leave in the afternoon.
Police reviewed security video and, working with the FBI and other agencies, focused Wednesday on identifying and finding two men who appeared in the security-camera footage to be working together to leave the device.
A description of the two will be released after agents take time to study the video images, Cox said.
The device was taken off-site and rendered safe. Wyoming has had no significant episodes of political violence in recent memory. Cox said he was unaware of any recent threats made against Wyoming officials or the Capitol, nor of any similar incidents in surrounding states.
Yet the incident happened at a sensitive time.
Millions took part in “No Kings” rallies against President Donald Trump in cities and towns across the U.S. on Saturday. Six weeks ago, a shooter killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk while he spoke to a crowd at a university in neighboring Utah.
Nationwide, protesters have challenged the Trump administration’s increased efforts to deport migrants.
Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers have been stationed in the Capitol in the past and checked visitor bags in the days after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. No security was visible in the building on Wednesday, however.
The footsteps of a small number of state employees, one and two at a time, echoed in otherwise vacant corridors that date to 1890 and reopened in 2019 after a three-year renovation. Custodians ran vacuum cleaners, and tourists picked up informational pamphlets from a display.
Vilar, a Londoner stopping in at the Capitol during a road trip from New York to visit family in Denver, was unaware of the bomb left at the building the day before. He wondered whether the daylong evacuation was an overreaction but was surprised that somebody had picked up the device.
“Don’t ever fiddle with things that are potentially, you know, might be a bomb. Just leave it alone. Let the right people deal with it. Don’t try to be smart,” Vilar said. “But then the other thing, of course, is there are always threats and worries and things like that.”
The Great Seal of the State of Wyoming, where the bomb was left, depicts a rancher with a rope and pistol and a miner with a pick standing on either side of a robed woman and banner reading “Equal Rights.” Wyoming was first to grant women the right to vote when it became a state in 1890.
