On Wednesday, several state capitol buildings across the United States received bomb threats, including Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, Michigan, and Montana. So far no bombs have been found, but the threats caused evacuations and delayed the opening of some of the capitol buildings.
In Michigan, the threats were sent to a general account for the Michigan State Capitol Commission. The Michigan State Police did a canine sweep of the building, but chose to keep the capitol closed for the rest of the day.
The threats were received via email across multiple states and included the claims that multiple explosives had been placed. No bombs have been found so far, but the threats appear coordinated.
The threats come only days before the third anniversary of the January 6, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol by Trump MAGA-insurrectionists, who were trying to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
Within weeks of Trump leaving office, many of these supporters began to adopt the ideas of what are known as “sovereign citizens”, anti-government right-wing extremists who accept no governmental authority and claim the U.S. government is “just a corporation created in 1871.”
The FBI has issued a statement: “The FBI is aware of the numerous hoax incidents wherein a bomb threat at a state capitol is made. The FBI takes hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk. While we have no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information.”
They added that the public should “remain vigilant and report any and all suspicious activity and/or individuals to law enforcement immediately”.
Featured image: Michigan State Capitol. Image courtesy of Yahoo.com.
Recent Comments