Michigan State Capitol evacuated after bomb threat

The Michigan State Capitol was evacuated for two hours Thursday morning due to a bomb threat.

A man called the capitol’s control center and made the threat shortly before 7 a.m., the Detroit Free Press reported. Police said the building was safe at approximately 9 a.m. and allowed lawmakers and staff to return.

Michigan’s State Capitol building has been closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic and the legislature is not in session, the Free Press noted.

“Every effort will be made to identify the person who made this threat and prosecute them to the fullest extent the law will allow,” the Michigan State Police said in a statement.

Democratic state Sen. Curtis Hertel called for guns to be banned in the Capitol after the bomb threat, citing a protest in April when people walked into the Capitol with guns to protest Michigan’s coronavirus lockdowns, according to the newspaper. 

“Without consequences, this will keep happening. This is why it’s so egregious that so many involved in yesterday’s events were simply escorted out of the US Capitol and sent home,” Mallory McMorrow, another Democratic state senator, commented on the latest incident in Michigan. 

This morning, Michigan.

Without consequences, this will keep happening. This is why it’s so egregious that so many involved in yesterday’s events were simply escorted out of the US Capitol and sent home. pic.twitter.com/AgA7uJvl54

— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) January 7, 2021

State capitals across the United States came under siege on Wednesday with supporters of President Trump gathering outside to protest the presidential election results and in some cases trying to break into buildings. 

Approximately 300 people gathered outside the Michigan State Capitol on Wednesday, Fox 2 Detroit reported. 

Rioters broke into the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., as Congress was meeting to certify the results of the election. Four people died amid the violence.

Congress later affirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s win after the Capitol was secured.