JACKSON, Miss (NEWSnet/AP) — Government buildings in several states were evacuated Thursday in the aftermath of a bomb threats that the FBI referred to as “numerous hoax incidents.”

It was the second day this week in which state and sometimes local government business in various locations was disrupted with closures or evacuations.

“The FBI takes hoax threats very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk,” Marshay Lawson, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Jackson Division, said in a statement as reports emerged Thursday. “While we have no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners.”

The latest round of temporary evacuations on Thursday included the Mississippi Capitol along with courthouses in Arkansas and Montana. No explosives were immediately found. The buildings were then reopened to the public.

In Jackson, Mississippi, officials said the state Supreme Court, which is across the street from the Capitol building, also received a bomb threat. Bomb-sniffing dogs circled the building before officials cleared the area.

The Pulaski County Courthouse in downtown Little Rock was evacuated Thursday morning after it received a bomb threat. That threat was announced shortly after a hearing began in a lawsuit between the state Board of Corrections and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The governor and the board have been in an increasingly heated dispute over who runs the state prison system.

Police gave the all-clear after searching the courthouse, and allowed people back inside around 11:15 a.m. central.

The Cascade County courthouse in Great Falls, Montana, was evacuated Thursday morning after the county received a bomb threat. The courthouse was reopened after law enforcement officials determined the threat wasn’t credible.

In northwestern Montana, the Mineral County Justice Court was also evacuated after the county received a bomb threat via email, Sheriff Ryan Funke said in a statement. Law enforcement officers searched the courtrooms in Superior, a town of fewer than 900 people near the Idaho border.

Officials spoke with federal and state agencies and determined the incident was not a threat to the public or court employees, Funke said in a statement.

The threats to the public buildings also come after a spate of false reports of shootings at the homes of public officials in recent weeks.

Follow us on Facebook and X platform to get our headlines in your social feeds.

Copyright 2024 NEWSnet and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.