SALISBURY — A bomb threat on the Centre at Salisbury last Friday morning turned out to be false, but the threat forced the evacuation of the mall and its surrounding businesses and the loss of an entire day.
At around 10:37 a.m. last Friday, Salisbury Police responded to the Centre at Salisbury for a reported bomb threat. According to police reports, an unidentified male, possibly with a Middle Eastern accent, called 911 to report the bomb threat on the shopping mall while in the area of Delmar, Del.
The investigation revealed the caller used a cell phone activated just prior to the threatening call to the Sussex County 911 Center. After the suspect disconnected the call with 911, the cell phone was quickly powered off. The unknown caller reported that he was trying to locate his cousin, who had placed a bomb outside the mall and wanted police to respond to the mall.
Salisbury Police responded to the Centre at Salisbury and notified mall security and management about the bomb threat. Mall management then made the decision to evacuate the facility and its surrounding businesses on out parcels. The mall and surrounding businesses were essentially shut down for the rest of the day on Friday and most did not reopen until Saturday.
Extensive interior and exterior searches were conducted all over the 90-acre Centre at Salisbury property by 10 bomb-detecting K-9 teams from all over the Lower Shore and beyond. Officers did not locate any evidence of explosives during the search, which took roughly eight hours.
Participating in the bomb search effort with Salisbury Police were the Salisbury Fire Department, the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office, Maryland State Police, the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Wicomico County Emergency Management, Maryland Joint Operations Center, Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office, Annapolis Police Department, Dover Air Force Base, ATF and the Eastern Shore Information Center.
Last week’s bomb threat at the Centre at Salisbury came at a time when a bill introduced by Lower Shore Delegate Mike McDermott that would allow a suspect who makes a bomb threat or threat of toxic substances to be charged in the jurisdiction where the threat was targeted has stalled in the state Senate. Under current state law, an individual who makes a bomb threat against a business, residence, government office or courthouse or a shopping mall in this case, can only be charged in the jurisdiction from whence the threat originated and not in the jurisdiction where the threat was aimed.
McDermott’s bill changing the laws pertaining to bomb threats breezed through the House two weeks ago by a unanimous 135-0 vote, but has stalled in the Senate without a hearing. McDermott said this week the bill’s impediments in the Senate are likely political in nature, but said the legislation is in the interest of public safety and last week’s incident in Salisbury is proof of the need for the change.
“The bomb threat at the Centre at Salisbury last week is a perfect example,” he said. “Think of the economic loss for those businesses that lost an entire day and think of the expense of all of those resources and manpower that could have been directed elsewhere. In this particular case, they’re going to have to rely on Delaware or another county to charge a suspect if they ever find one, when the suspect should be charged in Wicomico County where the threat occurred.”