Two major Bozeman intersections were shut down Friday evening for about four hours after a local media outlet received anonymously emailed bomb threats.
Around 5:30 p.m., a note from an unknown email address threatened to detonate a bomb at a local business at the 400 block of East Main Street and at another location at the 100 block of West Kagy Boulevard, said Anthony Hutchings, patrol lieutenant with the Bozeman Police Department.
Officers worked with the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office and Montana State University Police Department to lock down the surrounding blocks of both areas, Hutchings said. A bomb dog was brought in from the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport to search both locations.
The bomb dog didn't indicate anything explosive at the downtown location and the area was opened back up after about an hour and a half, Hutchings said.
The dog did alert to a window at the location on West Kagy, Hutchings said, which led police to contact explosive ordnance disposal teams in Billings and Helena. But due to the time it would take those teams to arrive on scene, local teams cleared the location themselves. Cleaning supplies were found near the area the dog indicated, Hutchings said.
Kagy Boulevard had been shut down from South Willson Avenue to South Tracy Avenue for about four hours before it finally reopened around 9 p.m., Hutchings said.
Hutchings said the department is working with federal agency partners on the threat and learned that it's similar to other incidents that have been ongoing throughout the country. It appears the email originated in Africa.
An investigation into the emailed threat is ongoing.
Let the news come to you
Get any of our free daily email newsletters — news headlines, opinion, e-edition, obituaries and more.
Send us your thoughts and feedback as a letter to the editor. Submit by email, by post to 2820 W. College St., Bozeman, MT 59718 or use our online form.
Support quality local journalism. Become a subscriber.
Subscribers get full, survey-free access to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's award-winning coverage both on our website and in our e-edition, a digital replica of the print edition.
