Wyoming Capitol bomb investigators focus on men seen in security video
[October 23, 2025]
By MEAD GRUVER
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Investigators in Wyoming sought to identify two
men they believe left a homemade bomb in front of the state Capitol,
causing the building's evacuation after a passerby found the object and
brought it inside.
The bomb, at a time of heightened political angst in the U.S., put the
sleepy capital of the least-populated state on edge for awhile, with
drones overhead and officers with bomb-sniffing dogs combing the Capitol
grounds. But a day later, things appeared back to normal.
No security was visible at the 135-year-old, sandstone building where
visitors have always been able to more or less wander among the state's
most powerful elected officials at will.
“It's a fantastic reflection of almost a happiness to trust people.
Which is positive and should be retained,” observed English tourist
Jaume Vilar, who was visiting the building with his teenage son.
The device was left sometime early Tuesday. Described by Wyoming
Division of Criminal Investigation Commander Ryan Cox on Wednesday as a
“deconstructed live firework munition with a fuse” measuring less than a
foot (30 centimeters) long, it was not rigged to explode remotely.
“It would've had to been lit with a lighter, or similar-type fashion,”
Cox said.
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.
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A Cheyenne Police Department officer sweeps the grounds of the
Wyoming Capitol after a suspected improvised explosive device (IED)
was found at the state Capitol on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in
Cheyenne, Wyo. (Milo Gladstein/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle via AP)
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.
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