DA Office will not press charges against man who left rifle in capitol building


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SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that it has decided to decline filing charges against the man who spurred a capitol building evacuation after he left a package containing a rifle in the rotunda.

Cameron Carl Crimefighter, 31, of Logan went to the Utah State Capitol Building at 3 p.m. on Oct. 13 and left a package containing several items including an AK-47 assault rifle, according to Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. Witnesses said they saw Crimefighter kneel next to the package and appear to pray over the package for about two to three minutes before leaving the package and walking out of the building.

The building was evacuated due to security concerns and a bomb squad along with multiple law enforcement agencies were dispatched to the area.

The package was a coffin-shaped box draped in a wreath of olive branches. Inside the package, police found an AK-47 style rifle wrapped in white cloth inside a rifle case; a National Rifle Association membership card torn in half with the name "Cameron C. Crimefighter" written on it; and an envelope with the words, "there is a world elsewhere" written on it that contained a drawing of the world and a list of the names of people who were killed in a recent school shooting in Roseburg, Oregon.

Photo credit: Cameron Crimefighter
Photo credit: Cameron Crimefighter

A blue piece of tape was taped to the butt of the rifle and writing on the tape indicated that there was no ammunition for the rifle and the firing pin had been removed, Gill said.

"Mr. Crimefighter said that the shooting that had recently occurred in Roseburg, Oregon had made a significant impact on him," Gill said in a letter. "Mr. Crimefighter said that he didn't intend his act of leaving the package to be a political or religious statement. Mr. Crimefighter said he never considered his actions would be perceived as a bomb threat. … He said his only intent was to say something respectful to the families involved in the Roseburg shooting tragedy, and that the statement was intended for them."

Crimefighter told police he wanted to make a statement that he was no longer associated with guns after the violence of the Roseburg shooting and that he took care to research federal and State law to ensure that none of his actions violated any criminal statutes. He told authorities he believed that everything he did was in accordance with the law. The state Capitol is an open-carry building.

Gill said after interviewing Crimefighter, the attorney's office screened all possible charges including threats of terrorism, interference with a public servant, preventing Legislature or public servants from meeting or organizing, disorderly conduct, or disrupting a meeting or procession.

However, in considering each one, prosecutors ultimately decided there wasn't sufficient probable cause to support filing criminal charges.

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"Our office cannot file a criminal charge in which an element of the offense cannot be proved," Gill said.

Crimefighter has not spoken publicly about the demonstration or its unintended consequences.

"I do not wish to speak publicly regarding my gesture beyond this: Do what is right, let the consequence follow," Crimefighter wrote in an email to KSL Wednesday, quoting a popular hymn of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Crimefighter changed his surname from Crebar in 2009 while he was living in Oregon.

The shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg on Oct. 1 left nine people dead and injured nine others before the gunman, Christopher Harper-Mercer, took his own life.

Contributing: McKenzie Romero

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