'Decisive Response': Salem Officials Laud Efforts To Identify, Charge Pipe Bomb Suspect

SALEM, MA — Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo and Police Chief Lucas Miller praised the efforts of local detectives and law enforcement, and thanked federal officials for their assistance, in the identification and arrest on Wednesday of an Oklahoma man accused of throwing a pipe bomb at The Satanic Temple earlier this month.

Sean Patrick Palmer, 49, was set to make his initial appearance in the Western District of Oklahoma court on Thursday and appear in a Boston federal court at a later date on charges that he threw the pipe bomb onto the porch of the temple and art gallery early on April 8. The Department of Justice said Palmer was identified through surveillance video and postings on social media that resembled a six-page handwritten letter that was found in a flower bed near the temple and where the partially detonated pipe bomb was found.

(Also on Patch: Salem Satanic Temple Pipe Bomb Suspect Charged In Oklahoma)

"The seamless cooperation between these agencies is what solved this case," Miller said in a statement released through the city and Salem PD. "I am so proud of the members of the Salem Police Department for their response to this incident, but particularly our Detectives — they worked tirelessly.

"I also hope this makes clear once again, that if you target the people of Salem for violence we, and our friends in the FBI, will find you."

Pangallo said he hopes the U.S. Attorney's Office "moves swiftly to see that justice is carried out."

"Salem is a welcoming place and violence intended to terrorize our city should be met with a decisive response from law enforcement, our judicial system, and our community," Pangallo said.

Salem police said an investigation determined the bomb was thrown at about 4 a.m. on April and that the damage was not discovered until staff arrived at the Temple about 12 hours later.

The DOJ said that surveillance footage showed a man with a black face covering igniting the pipe bomb as he approached the Temple, threw it at the main entrance and then ran away. The pipe bomb then partially detonated, causing a minor fire and related damage.

Court documents said a single human hair was located on the bomb containing DNA from a white man and the six-page letter was found nearby that was addressed "Dear Satanist."

The note said the man came to the Temple seven months ago to give a "peaceful message to hope you repent" and now was being sent back by Elohim — a Hebrew biblical reference to God — to "smite Satan and I happy to obey." The note urged those in and around the Temple to "repent" and "turn from sin" and said that Elohim planned to destroy the Temple and "Maybe Salem too?"

Court documents said a black Volvo sedan registered to Palmer was seen driving erratically near the Temple both before and after the incident, and that the suspect "comments frequently on a social media website about religious matters and themes similar to those contained in the handwritten note found outside the TST on April 8."

The DOJ said court documents accuse Palmer of purchasing items consistent with the pipe bomb at an Oklahoma home improvement store five days before the bombing.