Poli Alert Political & Civics
Related Articles
Susan J. Demas, Michigan Advance
The FBI is calling a bomb threat that shut down the Michigan Capitol on Wednesday one of several “hoax incidents” across the country. More than 20 state Capitols received similar threats, according to media reports.
“The FBI is aware of the incident in Lansing and numerous other hoax incidents wherein a bomb threat at a state Capitol is made,” Gabrielle Szlenkier of the FBI field office in Detroit emailed the Michigan Advance on Thursday. “However, I cannot provide any further details at this time. 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 as it comes to our attention.”
The Michigan State Police said that a threat was made involving the Michigan State Capitol Building via an email sent to a general account for the Michigan State Capitol Commission around 7:45 a.m. Wednesday.
The Michigan State Police First District said Wednesday afternoon that the threat had been cleared. MSP spokesperson Lt. Rene Gonzalez told the Advance Thursday that the department had “nothing further to report on this incident” and referred inquiries to the FBI.
Michigan is among at least 11 state Capitol buildings to receive threats on Wednesday, including Connecticut, Minnesota, Georgia, Maine, Kentucky, Idaho, Maryland, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Montana.
“We are aware of an emailed threat that went out to possibly every state. Our security systems have not detected any abnormalities; however we are conducting the appropriate follow-up to this incident,” Capt. Kyle Kennedy of Oregon State Police told the Oregon Capital Chronicle on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said that the department is not involved in the investigation that spans multiple states.
“The Attorney General takes threats such as these incredibly seriously, and established the Department’s Hate Crimes and Domestic Terrorism unit, in part, to investigate and prosecute threats of terrorism against elected officials, government officials and bodies of law and government,” said Nessel spokesperson Danny Wimmer. “While we will continue to hold perpetrators accountable to the fullest extent of the law, this investigation involved multi-state activity and our department is not currently involved in the investigation.”
Threats were emailed to secretary of state accounts in several states, according to CNN reporting. But Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told the Advance on Thursday that she didn’t “know all of the details” the threat at the Michigan Capitol.
“I was not there,” Benson said. “I was aware of it, but I really don’t know all the details.”
Advance reporter Kyle Davidson contributed reporting.
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.
