SALT LAKE CITY -- The Salt Lake County District Attorney has declined to pursue criminal charges against the man who placed a gun inside the rotunda of the Utah State Capitol, prompting a mass evacuation.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office said in a letter to state investigators that it would not be pursuing charges against Cameron Crimefighter for the Oct. 15 incident that forced the evacuation of the entire building. Crimefighter (his real name) left the disassembled rifle as a political statement against recent mass shootings.
Man sought after evacuations at Utah State Capitol. Image courtesy Utah Department of Public Safety.
"Mr. Crimefighter said he wanted his statement to be received in a 'gentle' way and that he intended that no disruption of events or business at the Capitol would occur. Mr. Crimefighter said he didn’t think his actions would cause alarm or concern, but that he hoped people would see what he had delivered," the letter said.
The DA's office investigated Crimefighter to determine if it could level charges of disorderly conduct, threat of terrorism or preventing the legislature from meeting. Prosecutors told FOX 13 they could not prove any of those charges.
"The charges that we looked at, they all required that mens rea, that intent. We didn’t find any evidence of that," said Jeff Hall, the chief deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney.
Read the letter here:
In an email to FOX 13, Crimefighter explained his actions. He said that as he walked into the Capitol rotunda, he was reciting the poem "These are the Clouds," by W.B. Yeats.
These are the clouds about the fallen sun,
The majesty that shuts his burning eye:
The weak lay hand on what the strong has done,
Till that be tumbled that was lifted high
And discord follow upon unison,
And all things at one common level lie.
And therefore, friend, if your great race were run
And these things came, so much the more thereby
Have you made greatness your companion,
Although it be for children that you sigh:
These are the clouds about the fallen sun,
The majesty that shuts his burning eye.
"The rifle I placed on the floor was internally disassembled, and incomplete. It was sheathed in a sealed rifle bag, and covered in raw silk, with a cord wrapped tightly around," Crimefighter wrote to FOX 13, attaching pictures.
"A wreath of Olive Branches was placed on top the rifle. An envelope was included, with the words 'There is a World Elsewhere.' (A quotation taken from Shakespeare), displayed on the outside."
Crimefighter said he included a drawing made by his children and the names of the Roseburg community college shooting victims.
A drawing that Cameron Crimefighter said was left with the weapon in the Utah State Capitol rotunda.
The gun, wrapped in silk, that Cameron Crimefighter told FOX 13 he left in the Utah State Capitol rotunda.
"The gesture was intended, as an appeal to an age of reason," he wrote.
Crimefighter declined FOX 13's requests for an interview on camera.
"Do what is right, let the consequence follow," he wrote.
