In the early hours of April 1, 2013, someone threw two molotov cock- tails into the Cottonwood Human Resources Department building at 816 N. Main Street. One improvised explosive landed in the office of Deputy City Manager Rudy Rodriguez, while the other landed in the human resources manager’s office.
The perpetrator also threw similar explosives at a gas station and bank in town.
On Sept. 5, 2018, Cottonwood resident Joshua Daniel Dawson was charged with three felony counts of arson of an occupied structure for the April 2013 bombings.
“At first I didn’t really believe it when someone called me about it because it was April Fool’s Day,” said Human Resources Manager Amanda Wilber, who counted herself as lucky to be on vacation on the date of the attack. “It was just shocking, that someone would do that.”
Luckily, no one was hurt in the bombing, but it led to around $400,000 of damage to city property, mostly from smoke. While most of the furniture and equipment inside the building had some level of fire resistance, and the homemade bombs were ineffective in starting an actual re, the smoke spread through the building via its HVAC system. Papers became covered in smokey residue, and had to be individually cleaned page by page. Several servers and laptops were destroyed.
“It was kind of a shocker for us,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone firebomb our place of employment. It does freak you out.”
City employees were relocated to to the multipurpose room in the Public Safety building, where they stayed until August of the same year. And so began the long search for a perpetrator, which lasted more than five years. The bombing was deemed a cold case until recently.
According to the Cottonwood Police Department, the Yavapai County Attorney had, as of April 2017, already charged Dawson and two other individuals — Bradley Meyer and William Stockwell — with a May 2013 arson at South Deserama Circle, after receiving tips in July 2017. In the past few months,
investigation into that arson case had led to further information about the April 1, 2013 firebombing.
“The sheriff’s office came across information,” said Sgt. Monica Kuhlt of the CPD. “They came to us with new leads for our three cases because of something that their investigation led them to.”
According to CPD, the only information known about motive was “disdain for the government.”
Cottonwood city employees said that while they had been scared at first by the bombings, their concern had faded over the years without updates on the case. “It definitely makes you really you think about the fact that there are people who are vindictive and don’t like government and could attack you at any time,” said Finance Director Kirsten Lennon, who said that she found herself thinking back to the incident with worry on the one-year anniversary of the original firebombing.
“To me it wasn’t unsettling once I found out it wasn’t me or my staff that was being attacked,” said Rodriguez, who said at first he was afraid of a targeted attack on city employees, but became less worried once he found out about the bank and gas station also being bombed. “If they had just hit our building, I would have been more concerned.”
“We move on from things. There wasn’t time to spend worrying about things.”
“It’s nice to know that the person who did it is potentially caught,” Wilber said. “It’s nice to know that person can be held responsible.”
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and Yavapai County Attorney’s Office did not comment for this story.
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
