VCSO Asks Public to Help ID Suspect in Courthouse Bomb Threats

Date Added: November 09, 2018 6:33 pm

Contact: Laura Williams, Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

VCSO ASKS PUBLIC TO HELP IDENTIFY SUSPECT IN COURTHOUSE BOMB THREATS

Volusia County sheriff’s detectives are trying to identify a person of interest after call-takers at the DeLand Courthouse received two threatening phone calls Tuesday (Nov. 6) stating people “were going to die” Wednesday morning at the courthouse.

One call came in about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday and the second was received 20 minutes later. Both callers were male and both stated the incident would occur between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. Wednesday at the courthouse, 101 N. Alabama Ave., DeLand.

Early Wednesday before the courthouse opened to the public, a sheriff’s deputy and his explosives detection K-9 investigated the entire four-floor courthouse. No explosives were found.

Sheriff’s detectives used investigative means to track a phone number used in one of the calls. That led them to a subject in a Metro PC store who came into the store dressed as a construction worker. The male subject asked to borrow a phone and is shown in surveillance video making a call linked to the phone number used in the threatening call.

Anyone with information about the person shown in screen shots from the surveillance video is asked to call sheriff’s Detective Gerald Johnson at (386) 943-7866. If you prefer to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida at 1-888-277-8477 (TIPS) or via online at www.northeastflorida.crimestoppersweb.com