Results tagged “bombthreat”

Scott McGann, the 32-year-old who caused a lot of chaos at Laguardia Airport a few weeks ago, was found mentally unfit to be arraigned and was instead "remanded into the custody of the New York State of Mental Health's office, where he will be held for a period of one year or until he regains competency," according to Newsday. On August 1, a United ticket agent alert Port Authority officers to McGann, who seemed out of it and inebriated; the officers were suspicious of the wires coming from his bag and detonator-like device, so they tackled him and the airport's terminal was shut down. It was later revealed his bag had papers that suggested McGann was building a time machine (there were "drawings of a bald man's head, with the words 'Age at 17' above him and the phrases 'John Doe' and 'Lifespan 35 years' below him," as well as "a downward arrow pointing at the word 'Time,' several other arrows pointing at the words 'Dimension 1,' 'Dimension 2,' and 'Dimension 3'"). McGann allegedly suffers from catatonic schizophrenia; Queens DA Richard Brown said, "The defendant is clearly a very troubled young man. Under the circumstances, the court's decision is the right one for all concerned."

On Tuesday, calls were made claiming bombs were set at three synagogues along the Jersey Shore. All were evacuated, but authorities found no signs of explosives. Now the NJ local and state authorities as well as the FBI are looking into the threats; MyFoxNY reports, "The person who made the threats is described as a man who spoke with what sounded like a Middle Eastern accent, police said." One resident told WCBS 2, "I'm wondering where this threat came from. I don't really believe it came from our own type of people. It sounds like it's an anti-Semitic type of thing." And because the synagogues were in Long Branch and Deal, some other locals wonder if the threats are some sort of revenge, since some of the figures from the NJ corruption probe—including rabbi Edmund Nahume and government informant Solomon Dwek—are associated with the synagogues.

The mother of the man accused of essentially shutting down LaGuardia Airport Saturday morning with his fake bomb spoke to the Daily News. Margie Jones said her 32-year-old son Scott McGann has catatonic schizophrenia, which the News says "leaves victims in a psychotic state where they're unable to speak, respond or even move." She added, "He's a not a kook.

Thousands of people planning on traveling out of Laguardia Airport yesterday morning had their plans changed when a man was found with a fake bomb in his bag, prompting the evacuation of the central terminal. The NY Times reports, "passengers who had arrived for early-morning flights were forced to evacuate for nearly three hours, creating a domino effect of car and foot traffic that caused chaos during one of the busier travel days of the summer." And a 32-year-old man was arrested for allegedly causing the mess.

      

Earlier this morning around 5:30 a.m., the main terminal at LaGuardia Airport was evacuated because of a bomb threat. Apparently a man claimed he had a bomb—he was taken into custody and his bag search—but the device was deemed harmless. However the terminal's C concourse will remained closed for hours, because it's a crime scene. Updated below: A 32-year-old New Yorker was arrested.

Newsday reports that a Manhattan man allegedly threatened to kill Supreme Court nominee federal judge Sonia Sotomayor. Prosecutors say that John Zaubler called 911 on May 30 from a West 72nd Street apartment and said, "I'm going to kill Judge Sotomayor by blowing her up. I'm going to blow her up. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it because my girlfriend is not going to federal prison." The 48-year-old pleaded not guilty to making terroristic threats; he's being held at Bellevue for psychiatric evaluation. Prosecutors also said he wanted to turn himself in. Newsday adds that Zaubler previously pleaded guilty to harassment in 2005 for making 25 calls to a person in one week, saying, "There is a New York City police unit called the intelligence department and I have used them before to break into people's apartments. I had Daniel Patrick Moynihan arrange that for me; a Syrian agent will kill you unless you have your friend Jasmine apologize for insulting my Muslim friend."

Apparently, a successful robbery M.O. means attempting it again less than 24 hours later and the Grand Hyatt, which is just east of Grand Central Terminal, was the victim of two robberies. NY1 reports that on Tuesday night, "Investigators say a man carrying a blue duffle bag went up to a hotel clerk, passed a note saying there was a bomb in the bag, and demanded money." The Post says the note read "I have a bomb. Remain calm. Empty your register and no police"—the clerk gave him $1,000. Then yesterday afternoon, the same robber came back, giving a similar note to another clerk, who also complied and gave him $1,000. Cops are investigating and ask that anyone with information contact CrimeStoppers by calling 1-800-577-TIPS or texting TIP577 to CRIMES.

CityRoom has posted the U.S. Marshals' Form 531B, which shows the "nine questions that law enforcement agencies want answered in the event of a bomb threat over the phone." Sure, not all bomb threats at called in, but, in case they are, these questions may be useful. The questions include things like "Did you place the bomb?" and "Why?" and also asks the person fielding the call to notice the caller's voice and manner (stutter? slurred? disguised? accent?) and noises in the caller's environment (P.A. system? animal noises? music?—yes, just like in The Fugitive). Initially the U.S. Marshals' spokesman William Dundon suggested that animals noises could eliminate NYC as being a caller's location, but then revised himself, "There are roosters in the city. I have heard them in the morning."

Is it a relief to know that Francisco Garabitos didn't have a bomb when his threats caused a Bronx middle school to be evacuated on Friday? The 55-year-old teacher, who was apparently upset about being disciplined for allegedly punching a student and throwing him against the wall, says he simply wanted the DOE to investigate the principal. Garabitos, a union chapter chairman, told the Post, "A teacher did not snap. A teacher did not threaten to blow up the school.... I just said I was going to shut down the school... It's a political movement by the union. The union wants a change of administration. We negotiate, but when they don't pay attention, we try to do something dramatic." Well, having the NYPD bomb squad arrive and over 1,000 students evacuate is definitely dramatic. Other teachers have been upset with the school's policies, but United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten also said, "Nobody -- I don't care who it is -- should put kids in harm's way." Garabitos, who has a history of alleged misconduct, was released without bail yesterday.

The Bronx teacher who barricaded himself inside his school and threatened to blow it up after a spat with the principal over an abuse charge had dealt with many discipline problems over the years. 55-year-old Francisco Garabitos has had 14 allegations of misconduct over his 28 year career, including two substantiated claims of corporal punishment. The Daily News reveals that he was also an author, including one book titled "The Virgin and the Beast" that they say "follows the exploits of a cloned woman 'reborn from the ashes of 9-11, 2001' who quickly evolves into a manipulative nymphomaniac." They mention that he also worked at a lingerie store for twenty years. Garabitos was charged with reckless endangerment, obstructing governmental administration and criminal trespassing.

Earlier this morning, a teacher made a bomb threat at JHS 145 in the Bronx, prompting the school to be evacuated. The Post reports the threat was "called in to police by the teacher, who locked himself into a second floor computer room. Cops are communicating with the teacher, whose identity has not yet been released... The man told police he is protesting the mistreatment of teachers."

The Queens DA's office revealed a 19-year-old Queens resident hired as a contract employee at the U.S. Open was charged with falsely reporting an incident--actually three bomb threats. Apparently Mehmet Kadayifci, per WNBC, "pretended to be hearing impaired and used a special Web site to type three bogus claims between midnight and 1 a.m. about a bomb being inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium." (The website is to help deaf people make phone calls.) One note read, "There is a bomb in the fire command center. This is a final warning.". Not only that, Kadayifci had bragged to another worker about the prank. He could face up to 7 years in prison if convicted.

NY1 reports that the NYPD is looking into possible bomb threats, as three people "received post cards warning of bombings in the Financial District" on Friday. And the cards read, "You're invited to a party so put on a happy face...Bombs! Bombs! Bombs! Lower Manhattan, July, August, September," and are signed "New York Jihad." Investigators do not think there is "actual terrorist activity" but are looking into the cards which seem to be printed from desktop computer at home.

Ohio and Texas are "too close to call" for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, which means it will be a long night - and very possibly another few weeks of primary madness. Obama did win Vermont (so far, 59% to Clinton's 39%) and Clinton won Rhode Island (currently 57% to Obama's 42%), which is her first win in a while, but those states aren't the focus.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an officer struck on 42nd St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, a bomb threat on 76th St. and Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan, and a shooting on Mayfair Dr. in Brooklyn.
• Don't speed (108 m.p.h.), at night (2:30 a.m.), while drunk (.113 BAC), while tailgating and driving erratically, on an urban highway (Staten Island Expressway.) One young Brighton Beach resident didn't get the memo it seems.
• Councilman Leroy Comrie's efforts to halt the branding of soft and alcohol-based drinks "OG Nation," was recently successful, with the renaming of Larry Johnson and Jim Brown's snack and beverage company "Hall of Fame Beverages." No word on what the fate of the"Thug Chips" snacks brand is.
• After Hillary Clinton put her own money on the line by loaning $5 million of her own cash to her campaign, backers have ponied up $7.1 million in additional funding. The beauty of democracy: it brings a tear to our eye.
• Unfortunately, as police arrived at the Staten Island 9/11 Memorial today, a man shot himself in the head and died.
• The FDA is now questioning the safety of a widely used Botox [botulinum toxin] in injection as a beauty treatment. Thousands of New York women would love to express outrage at the revelation, but simply can't.
• Grub Street points out that one can do more than just eat at IHOP, one can now wear IHOP. And that means much more than just throwing up a half-stack of flapjacks on yourself at 5 a.m. after too much "syrup." We're talking IHOP apparel.
• Good question: New York City has its Bravest, Finest, Strongest, and Boldest, but what about the lawyers employed by the City. Do Jack McCoy and the legions of actual city attorneys who've served as his inspiration deserve an appellation? Suggestions welcome.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a missing child on Bivona St. in the Bronx, a scaffolding collapse at Clifton Ave. in Brooklyn, and a bomb threat at 9th Ave. and 53rd St. in Brooklyn.
• The Fed lowered interest rates again - Bernanke is totally freaking out!
• NYU reaches an accord with neighbors regarding continued expansion. We won't have to start referring to New York as NYUC.
• Stuyvesant High is back on the scene by gaining acceptance to the final round of the Intel Science Competition.

Sure, you've seen TV shows or movies where someone receives caller from someone saying they have a bomb. But the nitty gritty of dealing with such a call can be boiled down to some handy forms. Reader animalvegetable took these photographs of forms (after the jump) from the New York Public Library that advise someone to (try to) classify the caller's voice, listen for background noises, and get the details.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an armed robbery on Washington Pl. and Broadway in Manhattan, a person under a train at 42nd St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, and a bomb threat at Utopia Ave. and 58th Ave. in Queens.
• A Chappaqua neighbor of Bill and Hillary Clinton was arrested for the murder of his wife. Last year, he claimed that a stranger burst into their SUV following an accident and shot her.
• There was a seven-car pile-up on the northbound FDR near 96th St. that backed up traffic for 30 blocks today. No injuries were reported.
• A two foot-long steel girder fell from the under-renovation High Line today and struck a car.
• The three detectives charged with the murder of Sean Bell are close to formally requesting a change of legal venue outside of Queens County.
• Streit's Matzo factory is leaving the Lower East Side.
• The grand rabbi of a Brooklyn-based Hasidic sect was arrested with his L.A.-located executive assistant for operating a money laundering scheme that profited them $750,000.
• Boingboing features a gallery of Soviet era space-themed Christmas cards.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 126th St. in Manhattan, another shooting on Intervale Ave. and East 163rd St. in the Bronx, and a stabbing on Rockaway and Pitken Aves. in Brooklyn.
• Atlantic City's Borgata casino was in flames this morning.
• Connecticut's Governor suspended parole for inmates convicted of violent crimes after NYC cops shot a convict who drove a car stolen at knife point into the city.
• A Norwegian Cruise Line ship was held dockside in Manhattan for several hours yesterday evening until a bomb threat was determined to be false.
• The Gowanus Lounge notes a flier looking to ID witnesses to the brutality inherent in the system.
• Muslim and Jewish New Yorkers dined together last night on Manhattan's Upper West Side, as members of both religion broke fasts related to Yom Kippur and Ramadan after sunset.
• The effect of the metal bat ban on city baseball so far.

Subway service on the F train line has been temporarily suspended in Brooklyn, due to what readers are letting us know is a possible bomb threat. Reader Marc Zeltzer tells us that the streets from 6th to 8th Aves. and 8th to 10th Sts. in Park Slope have been closed by police.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting at West 138th St. and Broadway in Manhattan, a triple shooting on Hunter Ave. in the Bronx, and a bomb threat at the intersection of Prospect and 5th Aves. in Brooklyn.
• Residents of Starrett City received a letter from the housing complex's owners that they intend to opt out of the state's subsidized housing program. One third of the 6,000 apartments at Starrett City are subsidized and the owners would have to pay the balance of a $234 million state-subsidized mortgage.
• The Gowanus Lounge wonders if another developer has struck oil on the Roebling oil field in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
• Forget the F train, judging from recent Craigslist "Missed Connections" items, the place to find love is on the commuter trains headed to and from the Hoboken train station.
• A rookie cop miraculously survived a four-story fall after crashing through a skylight yesterday. The officer had been searching for a prowler in Crown Heights, who got away.
• The Times Square subway station Record Mart is scheduled to re-open sometime in early October.
• Kenneth Boss, who was acquitted of charges in the killing of Amadou Diallo and reinstated as a police officer forbidden to carry a firearm, lost his legal bid to get his gun back.
• John Feal was originally going to donate his kidney to Paul Grossfeld, but a better match for his kidney was found. Now Feal is donating his kidney to another patient, whose spouse will donate a kidney to a third patient, whose spouse will donate a kidney to Paul Grossfeld. Doctors at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center will perform the transplant chain.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Hillside Ave. in Queens, commercial robbery on 16th St. in Brooklyn, and a bomb threat on 70th St. and 2nd Ave. in Manhattan.
• We hope some Brooklynites' leases are ironclad, because getting tatooed with an image of your building is the new fashion.
• Mayor Bloomberg conjures the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party by suggesting the likeliehood of a third party candidacy for President.
• Students are sick after partaking in free samples of a milk-beverage product.
• Toll Brothers wants the Jehovah's Witnesses' Brooklyn waterfront property and we can only pray that the buildings will have ludicrous Splendido-ish names
• 7 line trains are set to run on a near-constant basis while the Yankees visit Shea Stadium..
• The federal government is paying a large sum of money every month to house homeless people and criminals in a building once owned by Vincent Astor on 45th St.
• Wild accusations and recriminations are flying not in the pages of the New York Post, but about it, and The New York Times observes; plus, many more pages of fun at The Smoking Gun
• Brooklyn is now officially the new suburbs as dangerous art is removed from a show in an effort to be "careful" and not offend sponsors.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bomb threat at New York Law School on Worth St. in Manhattan, shots fired on New York Ave. in Brooklyn, and a person in the river off of Manhattan's 59th St. and 12th Ave.
• The former head of the NYPD's forensic crime lab, Deputy Chief Denis McCarthy, was transferred to a patrol division by Chief Ray Kelly after allegations of falsified lab reports were substantiated by investigators.
• Debra Ann Ridgeley, the woman arrested in Panama for the killing of Staten Island resident Toni Grossi Abrams, is claiming innocence. Her lawyer says that it was Grossi Abrams who attacked her with a knife and that a male Colombian friend intervened to protect her. She also is maintaining that whatever happened to Grossi Abrams, it happened while she was someplace else tending to her wounds.
• A 57-year-old man accused a younger man of stealing his money off the counter of a midtown liquore store yesterday. After the store's manager told the two men to take their argument outside, the older man picked up a piece of metal from the sidewalk, prompting the other to produce a weapon and stab him in the chest before running away.
• A building at the NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston was evacuated today after a gunman was reported in the building.
• Kevin Walsh of forgotten NY investigates the origins of a large anchor in Park Slope and finds a retired seaman.
• A ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals establishes that government officials can't be held constitutionally liable for statements made in regards to the safety or quality of air following the 9/11 attacks. This could put an end to a number of lawsuits related to post-9/11 air quality and the EPA's assurances of safety.
• Firefighters got to try out their new diamond-tipped glass-cutting power saw when rescuing two window washers stuck outside the 37th floor of a Turtle Bay building.
• Hitting a pedestrian in a grocery store parking lot is one thing; ramming into cop cars, however is highly discouraged in Long Island's Nassau County.
• New York named the daffodil the city's official flower. Over three million bulbs were planted across the city's five boroughs as part of the Daffodil Project to memorialize victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Revere Sugar Factory, by lachance on Flickr. Gowanus Lounge is reporting that demolition of the dome began today, but is progressing slower than expected.

Their parents, fuming over their 30-year-old daughter's relationship with a gas-station owner, had set up a marriage with a doctor back in India. So, in a desperate bid to elope with the man she loved, the daughter — not identified by police — bought plane tickets to Arkansas.

Continue reading "Gothamist PSA: Don't Call in Phony Bomb Threats"

OMG. Now, Gothamist knows that people are totally insane and make stupid decisions, but this story takes the cherry: The Post reveals that a tip about a bomb threat at LaGuardia last year was because a teenager wanted to make her flight to Atlanta - because she was worried her boyfriend there would fly to Minnesota to confront one of her ex-boyfriends. You cannot make this stuff up. Anna Tarasov made the threat while she was en route to Laguardia, and the feds traced the call to her cellphone. And what's more, even though her flight had its passengers deplaned, checked for bombed, and reboarded, she still missed the flight! The only barely redeeming thing Gothamist can find in this story is that the subway "made her late" - which makes us wonder about better transportation options to our area airports. Actually, taking the train to Newark isn't too bad (once you get to Penn Station or a PATH station), but is Airtrain really working for us? And what about options to Laguardia, besides the train to the bus?

Every so often, Gothamist gets email from readers in Midtown asking if we've heard any news of a bomb threat, as their building is being evacuated or they can see the bomb squad headed across the street, but as we're still waiting for our police scanner, we usually don't know unless we see it on NY1. The NY Times has an article about the bomb squad's Midtown visit freguency: 350 suspicious packages, with only 10 getting "dynamically disrupted" by a nonexplosive device. Most recently, the bomb squad "disrupted" a package next to the Starbucks at 295 Madison Avenue. No!! Not the Starbucks at 9:30AM in the morning! The package turned out to be an electronic switch. Doh! Someone was screwed when he got to work in the morning.

Augh! Who knew that something that could be something worse than a bomb threat? A woman noticed a box with wires coming out of it under a grate at East 88th and Lexington. The police closed the street as they inspected the suspicious package... and it turned out to be a video camera set up to take upskirt pictures. The NYPD is trying to figure out what website had been receiving the pictures, as neighborhood women expressed their disgust and shock. One woman told the Post, "It's disturbing. I'm happy I wear pants most of the time." Video voyeurism is a felony in NY State.