On Friday, November 23, a 16 year-old was arrested by police in New Hampshire for allegedly making threatening phone calls to two gay bars in Boston. The identity of the individual has not been released.
CBS reported earlier this month that two Boston gay bars alerted authorities that they had received phone calls threatening gun violence.
The threats first came a few days after the mass shooting in a bar in California on November 7 where the gunman killed 12 people. Then on Friday, November 23, both bars again received threatening calls, with dbar reporting that they received a “bigoted” call where the caller threatened to “shoot up the place”.
Meanwhile, the Alley Bar reported that the caller first asked for directions to the bar and in the course of the conversation, the person threatened the bar.
A statement from the Boston Police Department read, “At the time of his arrest, the suspect was wanted on outstanding warrants sought out of Suffolk County Juvenile Court for Threats with Serious Public Alarm and Civil Rights Violations in connection to that investigation as well as additional warrants stemming from other charges from outside jurisdictions.”
“We don’t take any threats lightly,” Boston Police Commissioner William G. Gross said.
“Everybody should be able to enjoy any establishment that they wish to go into in the City of Boston. Whether it’s The Alley or dbar, you should be able to enjoy yourself peacefully,” he added.
Police traced the call to a landline in a landline in Peabody, about a 30-minute drive north of Boston. According to the Alley Bar, the person was “easily identifiable”. According to the Boston Police Department, the teen arrested is from Hampton, New Hampshire
Owner of dbar Brian Piccini said, “We will continue to show our defiance towards intolerance by not giving in to threats by standing united at dbar,” Piccini said. “We will continue to work with the BPD to ensure a safe and friendly experience for all of our guests.”
A similar incident occurred in Tennesee last month when four gay bars received leaflets featuring the word LGBT+ with images depicting ‘Lady Liberty, Gun, Beer, Trump’ standing for each letter of the acronym.
The firearm on the leaflet was reported to resemble the one used in the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016 when 49 people were killed.
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