An Oklahoma man was arrested and charged with throwing a pipe bomb onto the porch of a satanic temple last week.
Sean Patrick Palmer, 49, allegedly lit a pipe filled with gunpowder and threw it at the entrance to the Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts, before escaping last Monday.
Surveillance cameras captured the suspect walking outside the temple, wearing a tan tactical vest, gloves, a black jacket and a black face covering early that morning.
The homemade bomb caused minor fire damage to the temple, but no one was inside the building when it detonated.
On Wednesday morning, FBI agents were seen searching a property in Perkins, Oklahoma, where Palmer lives. Authorities later announced his arrest.
Surveillance cameras captured the suspect walking outside the temple, wearing a tan tactical vest, gloves, a black jacket and a black face covering that same morning.
Sean Patrick Palmer, 49, was arrested and charged with throwing a pipe bomb onto the porch of a satanic temple last week.
Palmer allegedly lit a pipe full of gunpowder (pictured) and threw it at the entrance to the Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts, before escaping last Monday.
The homemade bomb caused minor fire damage to the temple (seen above). Fortunately, no one was inside the building when the bomb detonated.
Evidence found at the scene included a six-page handwritten note addressed to “Dear Satanist,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The misspelled note read: ‘DEAR SATANIST ELOHIM, I SENT TO ME 7 MONTHS AGO TO GIVE YOU A MESSAGE OF PEACE TO HOPE YOU REPENT. YOU SAY NO, ELOHIM NOW SENDS ME TO HURT SATAN AND I’M HAPPY TO OBEY.’
The message continued: ‘AND ELOHIM WANTS ME TO CONTACT YOU TO TELL YOU TO REPENT. APART FROM SIN. ELOHIM DOESN’T LIKE THIS PLACE AND THEY PLAN TO DESTROY IT. MAYBE SALEM TOO? THE ELOHIM SEND ME TO FIGHT AGAINST THE CRYING SATAN, BUT THEY WANT ME TO MAKE A HARD EFFORT SO THAT NO ONE DIES. I OBEY.’
The Salem Satanic Temple, also an art gallery with a permanent exhibit on Satanism, was vandalized seven months ago with white spray paint, although the incident was not made public at the time.
“There is probable cause to believe, therefore, that the person responsible for the April 8 IED incident is the same person responsible for vandalizing TST with spray paint in September 2023,” the FBI said.
Authorities said the bomb was made of a plastic tube covered with metal nails and a substance later identified as smokeless powder.
A single human hair belonging to a Caucasian man and a dark-colored dog hair were also found at the scene.
Palmer is seen on social media wearing a tan tactical vest similar to the one captured in surveillance footage.
Authorities said the bomb was made of a plastic tube covered with metal nails and a substance later identified as smokeless powder.
The homemade bomb caused minor fire damage to the temple.
The charging document alleges that Palmer purchased PVC pipe and a matching PVC end cap, like the pipe and end cap used to construct the pipe pump, from a home improvement retailer in Oklahoma in early April.
Authorities revealed that a black Volvo sedan, registered to Palmer, was seen driving “erratically” near the temple before and after the incident.
Photos on Palmer’s social media reveal that the 49-year-old man owns at least one dark-haired dog like the one found at the scene.
“Palmer also allegedly comments frequently on a social media website about religious matters and topics similar to those contained in the handwritten note found outside TST on April 8, 2024,” reads a statement from the District Attorney’s Office. USA.
Palmer will make his initial appearance in the Western District of Oklahoma on Thursday. She will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
If convicted, Palmer faces five to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
The Satanic Temple claims to be the only federally recognized international non-theistic religious Satanic organization, according to its website.
“I also hope this makes it clear once again that if they attack the people of Salem with violence, we and our friends at the FBI will find them,” Salem Police Chief Lucas Miller said in a statement.
Lucien Greaves, co-founder of the temple, said NBC10: “I think this person was very motivated to cause a fair amount of damage and destruction and didn’t care if people got killed or injured along the way.”
“Especially when it’s a random person thinking they know something about us when they clearly don’t, simply out of ignorance, we have to fear that ignorance is still present among a population of people,” Lucien added.
The Satanic Temple claims to be the only federally recognized international non-theistic religious Satanic organization, according to its website.
Its headquarters in Salem also maintains an art gallery and a permanent exhibition dedicated to witch hunts, Satanism and moral panics.