SALT LAKE CITY, November 20 (Gephardt Daily) ─ Brandon Bushnell, who was charged last week with taking an explosive device into Salt Lake City’s Federal Building, will remain in jail at least until his mental health can be evaluated, a Federal Court judge ruled on Monday.
Bushnell, 33, on November 20 arrived for a hearing with the Social Security Administration, and officers scanning his jacket detected a a device known as a cricket bomb in a pocket. Bushnell said the jacket and the device were his, according to the arresting document.
The building was evacuated, and the Salt Lake City Police Bomb Squad removed the device, allowing evacuees to return to the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building.
Bushnell told authorities that the powder in the device was called “flower dust,” and that his brother had extracted it from commercially available fireworks, according to the police report.
If Bushnell stands trial and is convicted, he faces as many as five years in prison.
