Federal Jury Convicts Illinois Man for Train Station Bombing
A federal jury in Illinois convicted a man for detonating a pipe bomb at a suburban Chicago train station.
Seventy-year-old Thomas James Zajac was found guilty of three counts against him for the 2006 incident at the BNSF Railway station in Hinsdale, Illinois.
Prosecutors say Zajac placed a pipe bomb in a trash can at the station which exploded during morning rush hour, injuring a station agent and causing damage inside the station.
About a month after the explosion, Zajac sent a threatening note to Hinsdale Police, claiming the pipe bomb was a “warning shot” and that police actions would “likely eventually lead to the death” of at least one person in Hinsdale.
During the trial, prosecutors said Zajac felt disrespected by Hinsdale police after a family member was arrested the previous year.
Zajac is already serving a 35-year prison sentence for a 2006 bombing at the Salt Lake City, Utah Public Library. Prosecutors say he set off a pipe bomb inside the library, just two weeks after the Illinois incident. No one was hurt in the Utah incident, but the explosion caused several thousand dollars in damage.
In Illinois, Zajac was convicted of one count of attempting to destroy property with an explosive device, one count of possessing an unregistered destructive device, and one count of willfully making a threat through the mail to kill or injure a person with an explosive device.
Sentencing is set for December 16. Zajac faces up to 20 years on the destruction of property count, and ten years each on the counts of possession of an unregistered destructive device and threat to injure with an explosive device.