SALT LAKE CITY — A man has officially been charged in connection with an incident in which a gas can with a fuse was found placed and lit underneath a FOX 13 News vehicle earlier this month.
Christopher Solomon Proctor was charged in U.S. District Court with one count of Attempted Arson and one count of Possession of an Unregistered Destructive Device. According to charging documents, Proctor admitted to an acquaintance that he had committed the act.
The 2.5 gallon red gas can with a cannon fuse was found on Sept. 12 under the rear bumper of the station vehicle. Although the fuse had been lit, it "self-terminated" before reaching the can, which was about three-quarters full with gasoline.
In the aftermath of the discovery, an FBI Special Agent bomb technician and others determined the gas can to constitute an incendiary destructive device.
During an immediate investigation, surveillance video showed the suspect, believed to be Proctor, walking in the area of the news vehicle an hour before it was discovered, wearing a backpack and carrying a red gas can while wearing a mask.
Nearly an hour later, the suspect placed the gas can under the vehicle and laid out the fuse. They're then seen igniting the device before jogging away and out of frame.
Three DNA profiles were later found on the gas can by the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services, with one matching Proctor on the screw ring of the container. Once Proctor was identified, Salt Lake City's license plate reader system identified a Honda CR-V registered to him traveling in the area where the news vehicle was parked.
Proctor was observed in the same CR-V on Sept. 17 by FBI surveillance before walking into his home. Later that day, he allegedly took the CR-V to a car dealership, where it remained.
Two days later, Proctor was seen driving a different car, a silver-colored Porsche, slowly past the location where the FOX 13 News vehicle was originally located. He was observed driving past “several times” before leaving and returning to his home.
FBI Special Agents executed a search warrant on Proctor’s home and car on Sept. 20, where they found several items, including “black ninja boots” that were similar to what the suspect in the surveillance video was wearing, along with “an empty gas can with a hole carved in the top, a portion of a multicolored fuse that appears to be similar to the fuse used in the incendiary incident.”
In the charging documents, the FBI said an acquaintance of Proctor’s was interviewed by agents and said Proctor told him he set a “destructive device” under a “fox news” vehicle and lit the fuse, admitting that it didn’t blow up.
Proctor, who is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail, has previously been convicted on multiple burglary and attempted burglary charges dating back to 1998.
