DA: Investigation closed into emailed bomb threats that caused Lancaster City evacuation in March
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — Authorities have closed their investigation into bomb threats targeted at a Lancaster library and other area institutions in the springtime.
Those threats came as the Lancaster Public Library was set to host a Drag Queen Story Hour.
The emails were created by someone from Nigeria, Africa, and the account was connected to other threats against similar events that day elsewhere in the U.S., the Lancaster County District Attorney’s office announced Monday.
District Attorney Heather Adams said in a statement that the threats are similar to the ones that targeted Jewish institutions and schools in 2023.
“This entire incident, from its nationwide scope, the chosen medium and the origin of the accounts, is not unlike similar bomb threats made in late 2023 in which ‘malicious actors’ targeted Jewish institutions and schools, and even more recent threats that targeted similar events planned since April of this year in other states,” Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said in a statement.
A cell phone was used to make the threats, which were all created two weeks prior to being sent. It is still unknown who made the threat, the DA’s Office says.
The emailed threats were sent around noon March 23 and they threatened detonation at 1:30 p.m. Other than the Lancaster Public Library, the threats targeted Lancaster Online | LNP, and individuals of LNP, the library and Lancaster Pride.
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Residents were sent evacuation notices until law enforcement was able to clear the area, finding no explosives.
During a pre-planned sweep at the library before the Drag Queen Story Hour event, a “suspicious” package was found that was later determined to have USDA coloring books inside of it.
There will be no arrest in the case, DA Adams said, but law enforcement will remain on “high alert” and will always take any threat of violence seriously.
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“While an arrest is unable to be made, the public deserves to know that the responsibility for these threats clearly lies outside our community, outside our state, and outside our nation and on those who simply wish to wreak havoc in our daily lives,” Adams said. “Certainly, threats of this nature to anyone, or any group, are unacceptable and law enforcement will remain on high alert and continue to take any threat of violence seriously.”
In April, residents in Mountville Borough also received similar bomb threats via email regarding the rescheduling of the Drag Queen Story Hour, which had already been canceled. Officers searched the area, keeping it closed off to the public for two hours, and found no explosives.
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