The Utah Department of Public Safety has released the man who left a suspicious package at the Utah State Capitol.
Utah DPS Major Brian Redd says that 31-year-old Cameron Carl Crimefighter turned himself in after seeing reports about what he did on the news Thursday. Crimefighter had left a rifle wrapped in a white box with a wreath on top of it in the rotunda of the Capitol building. The suspicious package caused the building to be evacuated and for the bomb squad to be called in. Redd says Crimefighter told investigators that the act was meant as a political statement.
“He has indicated that he is promoting anti-gun violence. He’s against gun violence and he’s concerned with recent victims in shootings that have occurred.”
Redd says while the State Bureau of Investigation released Crimefighter after interviewing him, they are still looking into filing criminal charges.
“Law enforcement never wants to restrict people from being able to protest but it has to be done in a way that does not cause alarm. Obviously, this has caused some public alarm.”
Gary Sackett is on the board of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah. He says while stunts like this aren’t the best method for bringing about change, it did show just how easy it is to bring a gun into the Capitol.
“To the extent that it got people’s eyes open about this and in some sense it was harmless, I think it was effective. But that needs to be followed up by people saying, ‘gee, can you really do that? And it’s really not against the law? Maybe it should be.’”
Major Redd says the State Bureau of Investigation is still looking for more information about the incident, and whether Crimefighter obtained the rifle legally.
