MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

Local News

Related Photos

  • An Oklahoma Highway Patrol bomb-sniffing dog searches a pickup at the courthouse’s garage.

    __wb courthouse1.tif

  • Muskogee County Courthouse employees and others with business there wait Monday while authorities sweep the premises for a possible bomb. The building was emptied after a bomb threat was called in.

    __wb courthouse5.tif

Discussion

February 5, 2013

Bomb threat forces courthouse evacuation

Morning’s work stalled while search carried out

By Dylan Goforth Phoenix Staff Writer

— By Dylan Goforth

Phoenix Staff Writer



Authorities are trying to determine who called in a bomb threat that cleared the Muskogee County Courthouse on Monday morning.

Muskogee County Sheriff’s Lt. George Roberson said a “highly distraught” female called the Muskogee County District Attorney’s Office about 9:30 a.m. The woman said that her husband, who is ex-military, was driving to the courthouse to blow it up with a composition C-4 explosive, Roberson said.

“She specifically said he was coming to blow it up,” he said. “That he was coming to blow the building up.”

Roberson said the woman hung up and did not call back. Muskogee County District Attorney Larry Moore said authorities believe they know what number the threat came from, and they are narrowing down who made the call.

“We’re think we know where it came from,” he said. “But the fact that you can narrow it down to a location or a certain number, other people can have access to that phone.”

Roberson said the woman’s husband has not been located.

All four floors of the courthouse were evacuated as word of the threat spread.

“The evacuation went awesome,” Roberson said. “I was pretty impressed.”

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol brought in bomb dogs and searched the building as well as sweeping every vehicle around the building. Employees were allowed back inside at 12:45 p.m.

Moore said it was business as usual once employees were allowed back in the building, but the morning’s cases would have to be rescheduled.

Reach Dylan Goforth at (918) 684-2903 or dgoforth@muskogeephoenix.com.

Text Only
Local News
AP Video
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel? Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
Poll

Are the IRS, Benghazi and AP phone warrant scandals vital issues, or a distraction from more important business the nation should deal with?

Vital
Distraction
     View Results
Featured Ads
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
Stocks