Fake pipe bomb threat targets Sen. Alting’s old address
State senator from Lafayette is the latest targeted by threats and hoaxes amid redistricting debate in Indiana
State Sen. Ron Alting said Tuesday that a Lafayette home he recently moved from was targeted by a false report that two pipe bombs had been placed there.
Tippecanoe County Sheriff Bob Goldsmith confirmed Tuesday that a county bomb squad had been dispatched to the neighborhood in northern Lafayette only to find the report from an anonymous email was fake and that the family living in the house was safe.
Alting joins a line of state lawmakers targeted in recent weeks by swatting and fake bomb threats – including one involving state Sen. Spencer Deery’s home in West Lafayette on Nov. 20.
The Indiana State Police is leading an investigation into the incident.
“Although the investigation is ongoing, this was a false threat intended to cause fear and disrupt the lives of innocent people,” Alting said in a statement Tuesday. “Regardless of the motive, it is dangerous and irresponsible, and it puts families and first responders at risk. I was especially troubled that the people directly impacted were a local pastor, his wife and their high school age son. They have no role in politics, yet they were forced to deal with the anxiety and disruption caused by someone acting anonymously. As soon as I learned of the situation, I reached out to the family to express my concern and to offer support.”
The incident happened as the Indiana House gaveled in a special session devoted to an attempt to redraw maps of the state’s nine congressional districts, in an attempt for Republicans to pick up one or two of the seats Democrats now hold in Congress.
Alting, who is the longest serving member of the Indiana Senate, announced in November that he backed the special session, saying that “given the current situation in Washington, D.C., I feel an obligation to help ensure my former colleagues are working with a strong Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. … I support President Trump, and I support plans to redistrict our maps.”
Goldsmith said Tuesday that he’d been in touch with state lawmakers in Tippecanoe County and had extra patrols near their homes and addresses shared with dispatchers and officers to flag potential hoaxes meant to bring massive police responses.
On Tuesday, after the false pipe bomb report, Alting said: “Hoosiers can disagree strongly on policy, but we cannot allow threatening hoaxes or fear based intimidation to become part of our public life. I will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement as they investigate this matter. We must always stand together in protecting the safety of families, neighbors, and our community.”
Meanwhile, the Indiana House was scheduled to take public comment Tuesday on a proposed district map released Monday.
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Alting confounds me. He consistently chooses the worst side of any given issue, then apologizes later, with Hoosiers largely willing to let him back into the fold despite this pattern of weak, rudderless leadership. Imagine showing your deepest loyalties to the people threatening to pipe bomb your home.
Couldn't be me.