Early in the morning on May 1, Maricopa County Sheriff’s bomb squad deputies and their canines responded to the new Sheriff’s headquarters currently under construction at 6th Ave and Jackson in downtown Phoenix. Workers on the site contacted law enforcement after finding written communication on the building saying there was a bomb planted inside the construction site.
Deputies responding to the scene found what appeared to be an anti-illegal immigration message aimed at Sheriff Arpaio’s workplace investigations which have resulted in numerous arrests of illegal immigrants who have used false IDs to get employment. Spray painted on a concrete wall on the new headquarters was the message: “Bomb inside…No Work Today…Happy May Day…Stop building prisons for other workers.” The building was evacuated while the bomb squad responded.
Sheriff’s deputies searched the entire building using bomb sniffing canines which quickly hit on a lunchbox on the 2nd floor on the east side of the building. The Sheriff’s bomb squad x-rayed the box, which was found to contain only safety glasses and water.
Sheriff’s deputies will investigate this erroneous bomb threat. The bomb scare comes two weeks after a major threat to the Sheriff was intercepted by Flagstaff authorities. Officials there intercepted a package in the process of being mailed to Sheriff Joe Arpaio at his current downtown Phoenix headquarters in the Wells Fargo Bank building. Officials say that bomb was constructed in such a way that had the package been opened, serious injury or death would likely have resulted.
