Man arrested after bomb threat at Chicago’s O’Hare airport

by mcardinal

Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News

 

Police in Chicago arrested a man Friday after he allegedly stated that he had a bomb in his luggage. 

In what turned out to be a false alarm, and as reported by the Chicago Tribune, the as-yet-unidentified man seems to have joked to Chicago O’Hare personnel that he had a bomb in his luggage. 

This resulted in police being called, a bomb-sniffing dog being employed, and the man being arrested on charges that were still pending as of this writing. 

“A man was arrested in Terminal 1 at @fly2ohare after stating he had a bomb in his bag,” Tom Ahern, deputy director for news and communications at the Chicago Police Department, tweeted Friday. “No explosives were found by #ChicagoPolice Bomb & Arson Detectives.” 

In a cruel irony, a bomb scare was perhaps the least troubling crime news to emerge from Chicago this holiday weekend. 

A read through Ahern’s Twitter account reveals a string of carjackings, armed robberies, and murder charges over Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. 

The bad news began for Chicago Thursday morning. About 20 minutes after Ahern posted a Happy Thanksgiving message, he followed with news of a fatal hit-and-run

In the hours that followed, Ahern revealed new charges for a pair of men charged with murdering a 7-year-old, the arrest of a 15-year-old on charges of carjacking and robbery, the arrest of a 17-year-old on five charges of armed robbery, and murder charges for a man accused of killing a 52-year-old man. 

Three hours after the bomb scare arrest, Ahern warned citizens in the areas between the Humbolt Park and West Town neighborhoods – which are located in the eastern portion of Chicago – that police were still searching for one or more men who had committed a string of seven armed robberies and carjackings between the hours of 7:30 and 8:15 Friday morning.

According to NeighborhoodScout.com, Chicago ranks among the more crime-ridden cities in the United States. Although not the most dangerous city on average, 90% of all American cities can boast of providing a safer environment. 

NeighborhoodScout reports 9.69 Chicagoans per 1,000 will be victimized by violent crime in an average year, 25.49 will suffer a property crime. 

DONATE NOW