Photo: Courtesy of the Department of Justice
SALEM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A man from Oklahoma has been arrested and charged with allegedly throwing a pipe bomb at The Satanic Temple in Salem.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts, said that Sean Patrick Palmer is a 49-year-old from Perkins, Oklahoma. He was arrested and charged Wednesday morning with using an explosive to cause damage to a building used in interstate or foreign commerce.
Surveillance footage from early in the morning on April 8 showed a man walking toward TST wearing mostly black and tan clothing. The man then lit a pipe bomb and threw it at the main entrance.
The bomb detonated partially and caused minor fire damage to the building’s exterior.
Video footage also identified a car registered to Palmer driving in the vicinity of TST before and after the incident.
Photo: Courtesy of the Department of Justice
Officials said a six-page handwritten note was found near the pipe bomb. It said, “Dear Satanist... Elohim no like this place and plan to destroy it. Maybe Salem too? Elohim send me to fight crybaby Satan…” among other things.
Investigators discovered that Palmer had made comments on social media about religious themes similar to the handwritten note found at the scene.
Palmer will appear in a federal court in Boston at a later date, said officials.
TST is a “non-theistic organization” founded in 2013 whose mission “is to encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits,” explained their website.
Earlier this year, a different person was arrested for allegedly plotting to bomb TST.
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