{"id":21468,"date":"2025-07-11T19:51:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T01:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pagosa-springs-man-suspected-of-throwing-molotov-cocktail-into-courthouse\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:06:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:06:49","slug":"pagosa-springs-man-suspected-of-throwing-molotov-cocktail-into-courthouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pagosa-springs-man-suspected-of-throwing-molotov-cocktail-into-courthouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Pagosa Springs man suspected of throwing Molotov cocktail into courthouse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"An
An entrance to the Archuleta Courthouse is taped off after the June 12 arson attack on the clerk\u2019s and assessor\u2019s offices. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Officers had sufficient reason to believe Bryant deliberately targeted the clerk\u2019s and assessor\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 a symbol that can be \u201cinterpreted as protesting the state of the government, expressing dissent, or a sense of national crisis,\u201d according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the report noted that Bryant \u201cexpressed his dissatisfaction with Dominion voting machines\u201d at an Aug. 2, 2022, Archuleta County commissioners meeting.<\/p>\n

The county assessor\u2019s primary function is valuing and taxing people\u2019s property and collecting taxes, the affidavit explained. The targeted office also houses a Dominion voting machine.<\/p>\n

sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

William Wayne Bryant, 71, allegedly harbored anti-government sentiments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[741,168,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arson","tag-crime","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77324,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21468\/revisions\/77324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21468"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}