GRANT COUNTY, Wash. – A potential bomb found in the backseat of a former Moses Lake chemical driver's car was not functional, according to the Grant County Sheriff's Office.
Grant County Sheriff's Office public information officer Kyle Foreman said the suspect, Ryan Palmer, had many of the components to make a bomb, but some components were missing or incorrect. Therefore, the bomb would not have detonated.
Foreman said sheriff's deputies also served a search warrant on Palmer's home and found some precursors for building explosive devices but did not find any completed devices.
Palmer stole ingredients for a fertilizer bomb in late December after accusing Nutrien AG Solutions in Moses Lake of unsafe work practices and causing his daughter’s birth defects, according to a report from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.
Officers found the bomb materials inside the suspect’s black 1998 BMW on Thursday after receiving a tip about a suspicious device at the REC Silicon manufacturing company in Moses Lake, the sheriff’s office said.
During a police interview, the suspect, Ryan Palmer, told officers he stole bomb-making ingredients after warning his previous employer that it would be easy for someone to make a fertilizer bomb because of the plant's poor security.
He also blamed the company for his daughter’s birth defects, due to chemical exposure he received while working for Nutrien AG Solutions, according to the officer’s report.
“Ryan stated he has continuously warned Nutrien about their lack of security and poor safety,” the report said. “Ryan stated he had frequently gone to Nutrien and just simply walked all over the plant…Ryan did this over 20 times to prove how easy it would be for someone that knew how to build a fertilizer bomb to blow up the facility.”
According to the report, Palmer told officers that he went to Nutrien at night and took several bags of fertilizer and minerals, along with two granular fertilizer jugs. In addition, he took diesel fuel and made a homemade explosive mortar device.
He also told officers he googled how to make a fertilizer bomb and all of the ingredients to make the bomb were in his car when officers detained him.
He said he knew how he could ignite the bomb at the Nutrien plant.
"Ryan advised he could just roll up the main door to the storage building and drive his car right in with the materials to blow it up," the officer wrote. "Ryan could take one of the front end loaders over to the diesel tank, fill up the bucket, and drive it into a fertilizer bay to make a really big fertilizer bomb."
Palmer said he planned to drive through the Moses Lake plant then go to the Tri-Cities Nutrien plant and “talk to management and show them everything he had stolen and explain how dangerous and easy it would be for someone who wanted to do some damage to succeed,” the report said.
Palmer told police he didn’t actually intend to ignite the bomb.
“Ryan advises this was not his plan to be caught with the items, but he is happy it worked out like it did,” the officer wrote in the report.
Palmer was booked on charges of attempted malicious explosion of a substance and burglary.