Laramie County commissioners shut down Jurassic Fireworks and Artillery World Fireworks last April, alleging threatening and "obnoxious" behavior from the Coloradan who runs the stores, Pete Elliott. Meanwhile, Elliott claimed he was targeted because of local disdain toward his home state, accusing commissioners of colluding with a rival neighboring fireworks business to run him out of Wyoming.
The conflict landed in court in May, when both stores were granted a preliminary injunction to continue operating as both sides await a ruling. But with the case still open ten months later, Artillery World once again needed its yearly fireworks permit to be approved by county commissioners. And once again, they rejected it.
"These are not the people we want in our community," Commissioner Troy Thompson said during the meeting on Tuesday, March 18. "I cannot in good conscience ever vote for [Elliott] to be doing business in Laramie County."
Thompson alluded to years-old, since-resolved complaints about Elliott's behavior, including disputed accusations that Elliott mistreated county staff in 2018 and that his employees obstructed traffic in 2021. But his primary objection revolved around a phone call Elliott made to Thompson's business in May of 2024 that he claims was "obviously a threat."
In the call played during Tuesday's meeting, Elliott speaks to an employee of Thompson's veterinary clinic, asking if there are other owners or employees working at the office besides Thompson. Elliott then says he is asking because "there's going to be a big protest outside" of the office in the coming weeks.
"We just want to make sure that the employees know it’s not geared toward them and they’re going to be safe, no one’s going to do nothing out of just protest," Elliott says in the recording. When the employee says a few people work there, Elliott continues, “Okay, well, just let them know that it’s not personal toward them or nothing. …We always like to just give people a heads-up. It’s nothing to fear or nothing that’s going to put them in harm’s way or anything like that."
Thompson said the phone call was "absolutely, unequivocally unacceptable," adding that it speaks to "the history of this man being a bully to our employees, to whoever it is that he thinks is standing in his way."
Other commissioners agreed.
"It is wholly inappropriate for a member of the public to threaten to protest and to use words like 'we're not looking to hurt any of you guys or harm any employees,'" Chair Gunnar Malm said during the meeting. "I know the applicant has feelings about this being 'Wyoming good old boys' ...it has nothing to do with that. It is about behavior and it is about attitude and it is about decorum."
Elliott says the call was not a threat, claiming he was trying to be considerate of Thompson's employees by warning them of a planned protest. Elliott gave Westword a recording of another phone call between him and a Cheyenne police officer made three days prior. In the recording, Elliott asks the officer about the laws of protesting outside of businesses, including if protestors can be on the sidewalk and if the business owner being an elected official changes anything.
"This guy just manipulates everybody," Elliott says, referring to Thompson. "Ultimately, they have the microphones, so you're at their mercy."
Pete Elliott started Jurassic Fireworks with his daughter in 2018, adding Artillery World Fireworks down the road in 2022.
Evan Semón
The protest never happened, Elliott says. The phone call to Thompson's office was made on May 20, 2024 — eleven days before a judge granted the preliminary injunction allowing the fireworks shops to reopen. Once that happened, Elliott says there was no need to protest.
Elliott stresses that despite the commissioners repeatedly referring to him as "the applicant" of the fireworks permit during Tuesday's meeting, he does not own the fireworks shops and is not officially associated with the permit application. His daughter, Breanna, owns the stores and is the applicant, but Elliott handles the daily operations because "Breanna was scared to go up there for years" due to ongoing conflict with county officials, he claims.
"They keep punishing her because Troy Thompson doesn’t like me," Elliott says. "It's beyond sick how they're lynching us."
Elliott's attorney, Bruce Asay, argued that because the call was made ten months ago and before the court ruled on the injunction, it was not relevant for commissioners to play during Tuesday's hearing.
"I just think it's inappropriate," Asay said during the meeting, "particularly when we've had a full year of compliance. You've had no difficulty with my clients this past year. ...We did go to court, we were granted the injunction with the conditions and we have abided by the court's conditions through the year. There haven't been problems with our permit."
Thompson falsely claimed that the phone call violated the anti-harassment conditions of the injunction. The call was made before the injunction was granted, so the conditions weren't yet in place. In addition, the injunction prohibits the fireworks stores' employees from harassing other fireworks businesses, but does not specify anything about other businesses or elected officials.
Malm argued that the commissioners "owed it to the public" to play the phone call during the meeting, saying it was "pertinent to the decision-making of this body who is charged with protecting Laramie County."
During the meeting, Commissioner Ty Zwonitzer briefly suggested that they delay consideration of Artillery World's fireworks permit until after the legal proceedings have concluded.
"We're still under active litigation," Zwonitzer said. "I personally don't feel like voting on this today is appropriate with an active case going on over last year's proceedings."
Ultimately, no one brought forward a motion to delay. Instead, the commissioners unanimously voted to reject the permit application. This is the first step toward shutting down Artillery World, as Asay said the preliminary injunction allowing the store to operate was only in effect until they applied for a new permit.
There is still hope for the store, however. Artillery World is comprised of three buildings, each of which requires its own fireworks permit. The permit for Building A was denied on Tuesday, but Elliott says permit hearings for Buildings B and C are scheduled on April 4. If those permits are approved, Artillery World can continue running. Elliott's other store, Jurassic Fireworks, also has a permit hearing on April 4.
"We're going to act. We know they can't do this to Breanna," Elliott says. "I think Troy Thompson made a mistake. ...The lawsuits are in the millions over this."
“The fireworks are coming. They’re coming.”
