A federal court jury convicted Thomas James Zajac, 57, on October 4 of planting a pipe bomb in the Salt Lake City Public Library’s main facility that went off September 15, 2006, on the third floor and prompted the evacuation of some 400 patrons and staff members. No one was injured in the explosion that blew out a window and damaged a chair, although prosecutors argued that the bomb could have killed people nearby.
According to the October 5 Salt Lake Tribune, a scrap of paper found at the scene of the explosion had Zajac’s fingerprint on it, and library surveillance video also placed him in the building prior to the explosion. Other testimony revealed that the police found close similarities between anonymous letters sent several weeks apart to police chiefs in Utah and Illinois after pipe bombs of similar construction were detonated in public spaces in both locales (the Hinsdale bomb exploded in a garbage can at a heavily used commuter-rail station).
On further investigation, law enforcement discovered that Zajac’s son Adam Zajac had been arrested twice for traffic violations, once in Salt Lake City and once in Hinsdale, Illinois. They attributed the elder Zajac’s motivation for building and detonating the pipe bombs to his anger over what he perceived as his son’s mistreatment.
Sentencing is scheduled for December 16. One of the six felony counts for which Zajac was found guilty carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years.