Cook County Sheriff closes Pride bomb threat investigation, FBI draws Russian connection

Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen announced on Jun. 18 that the investigation into bomb threats made in Cook County has been closed. The threat was delivered by email, named several specific locations in Grand Marais, and included derogatory statements about the LGBTQ+ community. The Cook County Sheriff’s Department mobilized quickly to sweep the buildings mentioned in the message, and established that there was not an immediate threat at any of the locations.

Eliasen’s statement read, “It was determined that the threat was emailed from an address in Moscow, Russia. We have closed the investigation due to the geographical barrier, and the fact that nothing suspicious was located during our search. Although the case will remain in a “closed” status, any new information will be taken in and investigated for authenticity.”

While bomb threats in Cook County are rare, there is a nation-wide pattern of threats of violence aimed at Pride and other LGBTQ+ community events. In May, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a press release warning of possible security threats toward Pride events. The statement specified that the threat could come from foreign terrorist organizations and their supporters, based on complaints of similar threats from 2023.

Over the past few weeks bomb threats have been reported from across the United States, all targeting local Pride events. The threats have been made in both large cities and small towns, including in Alaska, Massachusetts, Montana, and Texas. The threat in Cook County appears to come from the same source as several other threats.

FBI Special Agent Craig Heidenreich with the Minneapolis Division sent additional information to the Cook County Sheriff, stating, “The same email address “Iryna.melin.06” recently generated multiple similar threats across the United States. It is believed to be Russian and may be bot generated. So, the good news is that is extremely unlikely the subject resides anywhere close to Cook County, and it is not considered a credible threat.”

Update: The original text of this story posted at 10 a.m. on Jun 18., and included the connection between the threat made in Cook County and one made in Austin, TX, based on the shared e-mail source. At the time of publishing WTIP had not received a response from either Eliasen or the Minneapolis Division of the FBI to questions about the common source. This article has been updated to reflect the additional statement shared by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office on the afternoon of Jun. 18.

Kirsten Wisniewski June 18, 2024