At least eight state capitol buildings were evacuated on Jan. 3 following bomb threats.
Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Maine, Minnesota, Michigan and Hawaii were all subjected to threats that were ultimately cleared by law enforcement. The threats are now being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security.
The wave of fake threats comes after multiple swatting calls to the homes of high-profile public figures, including Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Congressman Brandon Williams, Senator Rick Scott, and billionaire George Soros.
Law enforcement swept the Hawaii Capitol with Special Operations Explosive Detection K-9 units for three hours and found no evidence of any explosives.
“There's 76 elected officials here in the building and all their staff, and all the support staff, the research staff, so lots of people, hundreds of people here in the building,” said state Representative Diamond Garcia, per KITV.
No explosives were found in this Mississippi State Capitol, which went into lockdown. The state Senate delayed its 10 a.m. morning meeting until the afternoon. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety notified the public that there was no further threat but did not release additional details about the incident, per WLOX.
The Minnesota State Patrol reportedly learned of the bomb threat – which was sent via email – around 9 a.m. At 9:30 a.m., security searched the building for roughly 45 minutes but did not find anything deemed suspicious or threatening.
“The state Supreme Court's seven justices were in the main building's second-floor courtroom hearing oral arguments on a case involving a man's challenge to the revocation of his driver's license,” reports the Star Tribune. “When the justices received word of the threat, they stepped off the bench and walked across the street to a courtroom in the Judicial Center and continued hearing the case.”
Law enforcement in Georgia also reported that a hoax email containing a bomb threat was sent to a state employee. The building was locked down and a search was conducted. It was later declared to be all-clear and re-opened.
“It is unclear who sent the threat and to who the threat was sent to at the time of reporting,” stated The Messenger.
Montana cleared its state capitol around 8:30 a.m. local time and searched for explosives around 10 a.m.
"In response to this morning’s bomb threat at the Montana State Capitol, Department of Administration General Services has been working closely with local law enforcement officials," said D.O.A. spokesperson Megan Grotzke in a statement, per the Helena Independent Record. "A sweep has been completed, and the threat was found to not be credible. The building has been reopened to the public."
Authorities in Maine ordered roughly 300 people to leave the state capitol on the first day the legislature was in session after the winter recess. The threat was discovered around 1:45 p.m. local time and no explosives were discovered during a search conducted with K-9 units. The hoax threat was sent via email to a State House employee, per Bangor Daily News. The incident comes three weeks after 60 schools in Maine were sent a bomb threat via email in December.
Kentucky closed its capitol on the morning of Jan. 3 after receiving a bomb threat via an email with the subject “Explosives inside your State Capitol.”
“I place multiple explosives inside your State Capitol. The explsoives [sic] are well hidden inside and they will go off in a few hours,” read the message according to a screenshot obtained and shared on X by LEX18News reporter Karolina Buczek. “I will make sure you all end up dead.” The Kentucky Capitol is now back open after a bomb threat this morning.
The threat was emailed into the Secretary of State’s Office - it specifically went to the Deputy Secretary of State’s email address.
She will be speaking to @LEX18News in a few minutes. pic.twitter.com/0C2oYQ0kfY
— Karolina Buczek (@Karolina_Buczek) January 3, 2024
Michigan also received a bomb threat via email. The message was received by the Michigan State Capitol Commission’s general account around 7:45 a.m. local time. The capitol building was evacuated just after 10 a.m. The building was searched and cleared by midday but remained closed to visitors “out of an abundance of caution,” according to state police spokeswoman Lori Dougovito.
“Neither the House nor the Senate were in session Wednesday, meaning there were fewer people in the Capitol building than usual,” reports The Detroit News. “Lawmakers are planning to return to the Capitol on Jan. 10.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation told AP News that it was aware of the multiple bomb threats to state capitols across the country but had “no information to indicate a specific and credible threat.”
“The FBI takes hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk,” the agency noted.
