The Hawaiʻi State Capitol building was evacuated Wednesday morning and staff were instructed to remain at home after a bomb threat was emailed to "certain members of the Senate."
Several state capitols around the country received bomb threats that led to brief evacuations or lockdowns as police investigated, but no evidence of explosives has been found, The Associated Press reported. Federal officials quickly dismissed the threats as a hoax.
In Honolulu, the state Department of Law Enforcement said deputy sheriffs were contacted about the threats at about 6:40 a.m. After law enforcement finished searching the building, the Capitol was reopened around 9:30 a.m.
No explosive devices or materials were found, the department said.
The Hawaiʻi Legislature starts its 2024 session on Jan. 17.
The Hawaiʻi State Judiciary said Hawaiʻi courthouses and the federal courthouse in Honolulu both received a mass email Thursday morning saying explosives were placed in court facilities. The message appears to have been sent “by the same person/entity" that sent similar threats to state capitol buildings Wednesday, spokesperson Jan Kagehiro said in a statement.
Law enforcement was sweeping the state courthouse buildings to confirm there was no threat, but facilities remained open, Kagehiro said. All packages and people entering the buildings are also being screened.
The FBI said it was aware of numerous hoax bomb threats at state Capitol buildings, but had “no information to indicate a specific and credible threat.” The bureau said it was working with state, local and federal law enforcement to gather, share and act on information.
“The FBI takes hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk,” it said in a statement.
The threats also follow a spate of false reports of shootings at the homes of public officials in recent days.
Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaiʻi, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi and Montana were among the states that evacuated statehouse offices or buildings Wednesday.
The closures were brief and disruptions minimal in most states.
Other states — including Wyoming, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri and Maryland — received threats, but didn’t close.
Several public officials around the country have been hit by “swatting” calls in recent days. Swatting is a prank call made to emergency services intended to bring a police response.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, for example, was hit by a “swatting” attempt a day after she removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause, a decision Trump is appealing.
The bomb threats come just days before the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and three months after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said government workers had seen an "astounding" number of threats in recent months, NPR reports.
Rebecca Reynolds of The Associated Press contributed to this report.
