A group of teenage animal-rights activists Wednesday confronted a federal agent who they say burst into the home of a friend last month and held a gun to her head.
About eight local activists, along with two activists from California and Oregon and a trail of television news cameras, took an elevator up to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' fourth floor offices, 47 W. 200 South.A security guard outside the office asked everyone in the group to sign in. Meanwhile, the ATF's door was closed and locked.
A few minutes later, an agent identifying himself as John Cooper agreed to talk if the news cameras were turned off.
The group said that on April 11, ATF agents without a search warrant entered the apartment of Meghann Griggs, 18, and held a gun to her head while looking for Jacob Kenison, who was charged with arson in a 1995 firebombing.
Cooper referred the activists' questions to the ATF's spokesperson in Phoenix. And when activists said they recognized Cooper as one of the gun-wielding agents who searched Griggs's home, Cooper said, "I can't comment. It is an ongoing investigation."
David Wilson, the local director of the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade, told the agent to stop using such bully tactics.
Cooper then told the activists to "back off" from making threats and said he would call the Salt Lake Police Department if the group did not leave the building.
During a press conference prior to the confrontation, the teenage activists contended - without substantial proof - that the ATF has been harassing them, following them and illegally tapping their phones.
The group also said that Griggs had been called to testify before a grand jury investigating animal rights activism.
In March, five pipe bombs exploded at a Sandy fur feed company, causing $1 million in damage. Authorities have not arrested anyone in connection with the incident.