Suburban man gets 20 years in prison for setting off pipe bomb at Hinsdale Metra station

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for setting off a pipe bomb at a Metra station in suburban Hinsdale in 2006.

Thomas Jane Zajac is already serving one federal sentence for bombing a public library in Salt Lake City, Utah, also in 2006.

On Sept. 1, 2006, Zajac placed a pipe bomb in a trash can at the BNSF railway station in Hinsdale, which then exploded during the morning commute. A station agent was injured.

Zajac, who is now 70, was prosecuted on federal charges and convicted in 2023. During that trial it was revealed Zajac had felt "disrespected" when a relative was arrested by Hinsdale police in 2005. Prosecutors said a month after the bombing, he sent an anonymous letter to the Hinsdale Police Department saying the police had "[expletive] with" the wrong person and that the writer had "fired a warning shot" the month before.

The letter threatened that at least one person in Hinsdale would eventually die as a result of police actions and the writer wanted to see if the department was "bright enough or possess[ed] the character to stop this death."

The former Oakbrook Terrace resident was convicted on three counts in Chicago, including attempting to damage property with an explosive, possessing an unregistered destructive device and willfully making threats through the mail to kill or injure a person with an explosive.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday, and the judge ordered that the Hinsdale bombing sentence be served upon completion of the sentencing Zajac is currently serving for the bombing in Salt Lake City.