Authorities in various states evacuated capitol buildings after mass bomb threats that were sent via emails to several secretaries of state and state offices.
Officials temporarily shut down the buildings in fear of the occupants' safety. A spokesperson for the Kentucky Secretary of State's office, Michon Lindstrom said that the mass email was sent to various recipients across the United States.
Mass Bomb Threat on State Capitols
Authorities from various states were forced to evacuate Capitol buildings after a mass bomb threat claiming that explosives were placed inside.
A copy of a threat that was emailed to one of the recipients showed government officers in at least 23 states were listed as the end addresses. The sender also claimed to have placed explosives inside "your state Capitol." However, there was no specific state that was mentioned in the message. It also remained unclear whether or not other email threats were sent.
The incident affected Capitol proceedings in various states, including Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, and Mississippi. There were no states that reported finding any threatening items inside the buildings that were evacuated and searched, as per CNN.
In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said that while everyone was safe, the Kentucky State Police had asked everyone to evacuate the state Capitol. They then worked on investigating a threat that was received by the Secretary of State's office.
A spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said that it has successfully cleared the Mississippi State Capitol. They added that officials thoroughly searched the building and found no explosives or suspicious equipment.
Mississippi Sen. Brice Wiggins said on social media that the perpetrators of the bomb threats were sick individuals who needed to be prosecuted. The chief operating officer for the Georgia Secretary of State, Gabriel Sterling said that they were starting 2024 with a bomb threat at the Georgia State Capitol.
The situation comes after a series of swatting calls against lawmakers where individuals report false crimes to have law enforcement personnel raid specific addresses and cause a commotion, according to Axios.
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Ordering the Evacuation of the Buildings
In the past few years, threats against public officials at various levels of government, including lawmakers and federal judges, have been on the rise. Lindstrom said that the Capitol building in Kentucky was reopened several hours after it was evacuated.
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams was sworn in on Tuesday and in a social media post on X on Wednesday, he expressed his gratitude to first responders for their swift response to the bomb threat.
In Minnesota, the evacuation of the Capitol building was ordered as the Supreme Court's justices were in the middle of hearing oral arguments. They were forced to move their hearing to a courtroom across the street.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that it was already aware of "hoax" bomb threats in state capitols across the United States. The agency urged the public to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement.
The agency released a statement saying that it takes hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk. The FBI added that while it has no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, it was still cooperating with local, state, and federal partners to gather and share information, said the Washington Post.
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