By: ABQ RAW staff
POSTED: April 24th, 2023 at 4:30PM
UPDATE: April 24th, 2023 at 6:30PM
Downtown Albuquerque, NM – Shortly after 3:15PM, the Albuquerque Police Department’s civilian communications director sent out an email alerting the media that APD’s Bomb Unit was responding to a bomb threat at 4th Street and Lomas Blvd. N.W, which is the federal courthouse. At the time the email was sent, APD was encouraging drivers to avoid the area.
We checked AFR’s dispatch logs and it appears as though AFR was cleared from the federal courthouse at 4:05PM, which means this situation has possibly been resolved.**
It is unknown if the bomb threat call was legitimate or another false report to APD.
While it is unknown if the bomb threat was real or not, erroneously reporting a bomb threat to authorities can be prosecuted at the federal level, Section 35 of Title 18, it carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment. In 2020, the US Attorney for the District of Oregon sentenced Kellie Kent Cameron, age 32, to 21 months in federal prison and Cameron was ordered to pay $43,620.18 in restitution for phoning in a fake bomb threat to the Deschutes County Courthouse.
UPDATE:
At 5:30PM, APD’s civilian PIO advised the media that “a suspicious package was removed from the area and APD’s bomb unit determined there was no further threat at the courthouse. Streets have been re-opened.“
**According to a source, AFR was originally dispatched to the federal courthouse for a fire alarm. The AFR engine crew was advised by federal law enforcement that there was actually a bomb threat, not a fire. APD subsequently learned about the bomb threat from federal law enforcement that was on scene.
