Man Gets 20 Years In Hinsdale Explosion

HINSDALE, IL – A man convicted in the 2006 pipe bomb explosion at the Hinsdale train station was sentenced last week to 20 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.

On Sept. 1, 2006, Thomas James Zajac, 70, formerly of Oakbrook Terrace, placed a pipe bomb in a trash can at Hinsdale's Metra station. The device exploded during the morning commute, injuring a station agent, authorities said.

During his federal trial last year, evidence showed Zajac felt disrespected when Hinsdale police arrested a family member in the year before the bombing, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

About a month before the explosion, Zajac sent an anonymous letter to the Hinsdale police station, saying the police had "f----- with" the wrong person and that he had "fired a warning shot" last month, the release said.

He also said in the letter that police actions would "likely eventually lead to the death" of at least one person in Hinsdale, authorities said. He said he wanted to see whether the department was "bright enough or possess(ed) the character to stop this death."

Zajac was convicted of attempting to damage property with an explosive, possessing an unregistered destructive device and willfully making a threat through the mail to kill or injure a person with an explosive.

His sentence must start after the completion of a federal sentence that he is serving for bombing a library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 2022, Patch interviewed a woman who was at the Metra train station at the time of the explosion.