Multiple bomb threats reported in Detroit Friday

Detroit's 36th District Court was evacuated Friday for the second day as a result of a  bomb threat, Detroit Police said. Neighboring Frank Murphy Hall of Justice also was evacuated.

The threat was received at the court along with threats at Children's Hospital in Detroit, Harper Hospital, both in the Detroit Medical Center and Frank Murphy Hall of Justice. Only 36th District Court was evacuated, police said.

Court officials at the 36th District Court started letting employees back in to the building, on Madison, around 10 a.m. Maria Miller, Wayne County assistant prosecutor, announced around noon that the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice reopened. 

The threats were called in and the first one came in around 8:30 a.m. Friday.

No explosives have been found at any of the locations but the bomb squad unit would have to make the all-clear of the scene, said Detroit Police spokesman Dontae Freeman.

The police department's bomb squad will do thorough searches of the buildings affected. 

There were no details on what type of threat the hospital received. The incident follows a series of emailed bomb threats to buildings Thursday in Metro Detroit and nationwide that caused evacuations and building searches.

“We take the security and safety of our patients, physicians, visitors and employees very seriously," the DMC said in a statement. "We have established security processes and procedures in place at our hospital and are working with local authorities.”

April Gill, 40, accompanied her 19-year-old son to 36th District Court for an 8:30 hearing on a traffic ticket he received.

And just before his case was dealt with the evacuation happened, she said.

“He was actually waiting to get his papers and they started evacuating the court,” Gill said as she waited outside with scores of others who were making their way back into the courthouse. “They just missed his case.”

Locally, on Thursday there were reports of bomb threats at buildings in downtown Detroit, Grosse Pointe Shores, Ann Arbor and Farmington Hills. The threats, say authorities, were received around 2 p.m. Thursday. No signs of explosives were found.

The emails that caused the evacuations reportedly had a subject line that said "Think Twice." Samples of the email threats shared with The Detroit News by multiple sources describe a bomb being hidden in the building. The emails read that a bomb would be detonated unless the targets made an online payment of $20,000 in Bitcoin. 

Two bomb threats were made in Ann Arbor, in which one was made to an apartment complex and one to an office building, said Ann Arbor Police Sgt. Bill Clock. The threats were made to the Sandalwood Circle apartment building on Ann Arbor's north side and Victor's Way on the south side, Clock said. 

Threatening emails of bombs also were found in New York City; Palm Beach, Florida; and Boise and Aurora, Illinois. Emails were received in the southern region of the country as well, including the offices of the News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, and a suburban Atlanta courthouse. Law enforcement authorities said Thursday the emails appeared to be a hoax. Officials at the New York Police Department dismissed the emails as  "likely not credible."

The emails also were sent to the Guardian Building at 500 Griswold, 36th District Court and the Wayne County Treasury building at 400 Monroe. Most of the buildings were evacuated around 2:05 p.m. Thursday.

Anyone with information about the suspicious emails can contact MSP's Michigan Intelligence Operations Center at 1-855-MICHTIP (855-642-4847).