Mississippi Capitol receives bomb threat; No explosive devices found

The all-clear signal was given at the Mississippi State Capitol Building after a bomb threat was received Wednesday morning forcing a lockdown and delay of business. Legislators were allowed to come back in the building.

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety says it has successfully cleared the Mississippi State Capitol, according to a press release.

"The building was thoroughly searched, and no explosives or suspicious equipment were found," the release said. "This is an ongoing investigation and there is no further threat to the Capitol or surrounding buildings."

The building re-opened at 11 a.m.

The Capitol Building had been under a bomb threat Wednesday morning.

Mississippi was among at least six state capitols that received a bomb threat on Wednesday. The others are in Kentucky, Michigan, Georgia, Montana and Connecticut.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said on X, formerly Twitter, that the Capitol was evacuated while state police investigated a threat received by the Secretary of State’s Office. He said everyone was safe and officials were aware of similar threats made to other offices across the country. The threat was received as Kentucky lawmakers were meeting in the Capitol annex for ethics training.

According to the FBI, all of the instances were a hoax.

“The FBI takes hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk,” the FBI said in a statement. “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 Capitol re-opened for staff at 11 a.m. and both chambers of the legislature went back to business at 2 p.m..

Early Wednesday, Mississippi Capitol Police cut off access to the Capitol and the building was on lockdown on the second day of the 2024 session.

According to Bailey Martin, with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, "we were notified earlier (Wednesday) of suspicious activity in and around the Mississippi State Capitol."

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Early Wednesday, one legislator said that Capitol Police officers were taking the threat seriously.

"They have evacuated the building and have brought in bomb-detecting dogs," the legislator said. "They are working on the perimeter. They are going from the basement to the tip top methodically. Capitol Police is pretty much running the operation."

Businesses and churches directly across the street from the Capitol Building were not asked to leave or take any additional safety measures, according to one business owner.

According to the Associated Press, Montana’s Capitol building reopened within two hours after a sweep of the building was completed and the threat was found not to be credible, said Megan Grotzke, spokesperson for the Department of Administration.

Other states received a threat but didn’t close. A “mass email” was sent to “several state entities” in Wyoming but was determined not to be a security threat and no offices were closed, Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Kyle McKay told the AP.

Several public officials have been hit by “swatting” calls in recent days. Swatting is a prank call made to emergency services intended to bring a police response.

Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, for example, was targeted by a fake emergency call on Christmas morning. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, meanwhile, was hit by a “swatting” attempt a day after she removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause, a decision Trump is appealing.

Other public officials targeted in recent days include Republican U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams of New York, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Staff writer Grant McLaughlin and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi Legislature capitol building receives bomb threat