Oklahoma City Bomb Threat Shuts Down Federal Office

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Oklahoma City Bomb Threat Shuts Down Federal Office Posted: 21 Jan 2009 11:48 PM PST An ex-convict is being blamed for a bomb threat that shut down the federal office building near downtown for hours Wednesday. Federal employees were evacuated after the 12:30 p.m. bomb threat, officials said. Oklahoma City police blocked off nearby streets as bomb technicians worked to check a backpack left at the building and a car parked outside. “This is a major disruption, FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said. “It is affecting all of downtown. Police arrested Roderick Robinson, 30, of Oklahoma City at Walker Cos., a few blocks east of the federal building, about 30 minutes later. The bomb threat shook up workers in an area devastated in April 1995 when a truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The office building evacuated Wednesday was built to replace the Murrah Building. “It was unnerving, said Sue Stephens, an office manager of the Walker Cos., where Robinson had used the phone. The car and backpack were cleared, the FBI said about 10 p.m. No explosive devices were found. The FBI alleges Robinson gave two threatening handwritten notes to a security guard at the entrance of the federal building. One note claimed a bomb was in the backpack and the other claimed a bomb was in a gray car outside, according to the FBI. “Both notes said, basically, Give me money and You have five minutes, Johnson said. “There are some indications he may have written one or both of the notes outside the federal building prior to entering. Read More This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

Suspicious Letters Containing White Powder Forces Evacuation of WSJ Offices Posted: 21 Jan 2009 04:23 PM PST Two floors of the Manhattan offices of The Wall Street Journal were evacuated Wednesday after the The suspicious mails, in identical, white envelopes with Tennessee postmarks, were addressed to several New York-based WSJ executives, the paper said in a story on its website. The two evacuated floors housed news, editorial and executive personnel, the paper said, adding that only a core group of editors remained in the building to ensure production of newspaper for Thursday and that others were sent home or to back-up facilities. Officials from the New York City Police Department and Department of Environmental Protection are on the scene. The suspicious envelopes, addressed by hand in pen, arrived with different return addresses in Tennessee. One envelope was addressed to Robert Thomson, the paper’s managing editor. It was opened by one of his assistants. The Wall Street Journal is published by News Corp.’s Dow Jones &Co. An executive of Dow Jones emailed the paper’s New York City-based employees, cautioning them not to open any mail. “While we don’t think there is cause for alarm at this time, we are asking everyone not to open any mail while we investigate,” Dow Jones vice president of communications Howard Hoffman said in the email. Last October, the New York offices of the New York Times and Reuters had to be evacuated for several hours after receiving letters with suspicious white powder. This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information.

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