A Pagosa Springs man suspected of setting fire to the Archuleta County Courthouse allegedly chucked a Molotov cocktail through a window late at night, according to an arrest affidavit.
Security camera footage captured William Wayne Bryant, 71, tossing the incendiary device through a side window, then running from the scene, according to the affidavit.
The glow of the ensuing fire showed the suspect wearing a black jacket with a white hood. Investigators used that clothing description to help identify Bryant as a suspect, according to the affidavit.
Another security camera at Tequilas Restaurant, 439 San Juan St., captured a man wearing a black jacket and white hood walking on the river trail. At 1:23 a.m. June 12, a camera at Mary Fisher Park revealed the same figure approach a white Chevrolet 2500 with a water tank in the rear, parked near Healing Waters Resort and Spa, where he entered the vehicle and drove away, according to the affidavit.
Security footage from the previous day showed the same truck driving around the spa and the courthouse before eventually parking at Healing Waters at 1:03 a.m. June 12. Officers were able to determine that the truck belonged to Bryant, and arrested him on June 25.
Officers had sufficient reason to believe Bryant deliberately targeted the clerk’s and assessor’s offices.
The affidavit alleged that Bryant harbored anti-government sentiments, citing anti-taxation videos and the presence of an upside-down American flag on his Facebook page – a symbol that can be “interpreted as protesting the state of the government, expressing dissent, or a sense of national crisis,” according to the affidavit.
Additionally, the report noted that Bryant “expressed his dissatisfaction with Dominion voting machines” at an Aug. 2, 2022, Archuleta County commissioners meeting.
The county assessor's primary function is valuing and taxing people’s property and collecting taxes, the affidavit explained. The targeted office also houses a Dominion voting machine.
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
