The University of Wisconsin Police identified a suspect in Wednesday’s UW Hospital bomb threat case. Police said they have not arrested the suspect due to circumstances beyond their control, but the department anticipates taking him into custody “very soon” and charging him with Felony Bomb Scare.
At around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, an unidentified male called an employee of the city and said a bomb was in the UW Hospital and that it would explode within an hour. The man called back about six minutes later and said he had been in contact with governmental agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service and State Department. When UW Police officers responded to the threat, they found a suspicious bag in the second-floor lobby that was determined not to be a bomb.
UW Police Chief Susan Riseling said Wednesday that her staff believed the caller was lying when he mentioned his contact with other law enforcement agencies.
When police handle a bomb threat, they look for any objects seemingly out of place and bring in a bomb-sniffing dog that is led on a patterned search of the area. If the dog points to the same object twice, the bomb squad is called in.
In this case, police secured the area and set up an evacuated perimeter within the building. The bomb squad’s dog led the way to a suspicious-looking bag inside a recycling bin.