A homemade propane bomb planted in the tool shed of a northeast Wyoming oil field equipment company could have caused a lot of damage had it worked, Weston County Sheriff Bryan Colvard told Cowboy State Daily.
Just how the agricultural-sized 100-pound propane tank was rigged to potentially explode or cause a fire overnight Friday “is difficult to give details about” while an investigation is active, the sheriff said Monday.
But possible fingerprints were found on the bomb, and investigators are following up other leads that make Colvard “hopeful” a suspect may be identified and possibly arrested in the near future, he said.
“We really don’t have a motive whatsoever, but we’re tracking down the components and potential for fingerprints,” he said. “Hopefully, those pan out.”
‘The Real Deal’
The investigation started early Saturday about 7:30 or 8 a.m., when the Weston County Sheriff’s Office got a call about someone finding the device at the company’s yard south of Upton, Colvard said.
“A worker went in to get tools to start their work and found it,” he said, adding that the bomb was put there sometime after the business closed Friday.
“It wasn’t there Friday, and then was found Saturday morning, so it probably wasn’t designed to hurt anybody or to just start a fire.”
He also said the propane tank wasn’t full.
A lot of theories about the bomb right now are “just speculation,” Colvard said. But the bomb seems to have been designed to start a fire.
“It was designed to allow that propane to fill the doghouse — which is the oil field term for a tool shed — and give it some time before it ignited,” he said. “Don’t know how educated this individual is at making this kind of device.”
A pair of bomb technicians with the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office also responded to help with the investigation, Colvard said.
“We felt comfortable everything was safe, but they could give a little more insight into how it was made,” he said, adding they were a tremendous help.
While the bomb didn’t go off as intended, Colvard said there’s no doubt in his mind that setting the bomb was an attempt to burn down or destroy that tool shed.
“It was the real deal,” he said.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
