Update at 3:37:
Parts of downtown Lancaster were evacuated Saturday afternoon amid bomb threats referencing a canceled Drag Queen Story Hour event at Lancaster Public Library.
The threats also specifically mentioned the home addresses of the library’s executive director, the president of Lancaster Pride, which was supposed to host the event, and an LNP | LancasterOnline reporter.
The email was sent at 12:07 p.m. and said the bombs were to go off at 1:30 p.m. As of 3 p.m., no explosives had gone off.
The email read, in part: “Bring the fire department, we placed pipe bombs as well as fuel bombs will likely cause a fire spreading to other buildings. evacuate so no innocents die. You are (expletive) degenerates, pedophiles, child abusers or (expletive) cowards who rather let our children get preyed upon than be called a bigot. (expletive)you degenerates, we will kill you all and purify our land.”
Earlier Saturday, Lancaster Pride canceled the reading hour after a suspicious package was found inside the library.
Amber Strazzo, a city spokeswoman, said a dog “alerted” on the package, meaning that something raised its suspicion.
“There are a number of reasons why the dogs could have alerted on it, but we cannot speculate as we do not have confirmation,” Strazzo said. “We can however confirm that the contents of the package were benign. Subsequently, we received additional written threats via email.”
The event cancellation, bomb threats and evacuations caused havoc downtown and at the pop-culture convention Zenkaikon, which had drawn thousands of people downtown to the Lancaster County Convention Center.
Official reaction
The threats came two weeks after Lancaster County’s two Republican commissioners, Josh Parsons and Ray D’Agostino, first made critical remarks on social media about Drag Queen Story Hour. Their criticism touched off a cultural firestorm, with people across the county and beyond weighing in for and against the event.
D’Agostino and Parsons posted their reactions to the threats on Facebook.
“The threats that led to the cancellation of the event at the Lancaster Public Library this afternoon are deeply distressing and have no place in our community. Whoever is responsible and regardless of their motive for the terroristic threats, must be identified, apprehended, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” D’Agostino wrote.
In his post, Parsons wrote: “It is my hope and expectation that the perpetrators will be quickly caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. This is true regardless of whether they actually oppose the Drag Queen Story Hour or they support it and are seeking to create outrage against those who oppose it. The consequences should be the same and extremely serious. Threats of violence have no place in our debates.”
Alice Yoder, the minority Democrat commissioner, said in a text Saturday that while she was disappointed the event was canceled, “I am even more disappointed in the threat of violence that caused the cancellation and the rhetoric that fed those threats. The words feeding the flame of that violence are just as dangerous as the threats themselves. We are talking about our neighbors here.”
She continued, “Lancaster is home to a lot of love and support for our LGBTQ+ community and I know that will always win. I look forward to continuing to support the library, the community, and to many future events to come.”
Lancaster police lift evacuation orders following bomb threats [update]
Bomb threats
Tiffany Shirley, president of Lancaster Pride, was downtown when she learned that her home had been mentioned by its address. Police were searching it in the early afternoon, but she was not home, but instead was somewhere safe.
“I’m disheartened that someone truly wanted to cause harm. It’s disgusting. It’s disgusting,” Shirley said.
Lissa Holland, the library’s executive director, did not immediately provide a comment.
I suspect a false flag (false fag?) until proven otherwise.
The first item of consideration is that it should not be the public and taxpayers paying for this politicized agenda. If this left-wing group wants to pay and fund it let them.
But never forget that it is the left that hates conservative free speech and will do everything and anything and come from far and wide to shut down conservative free speech. So no we do not accept double standards.