Police Shut Down Main Street Again After Second Bomb Threat In Past Four Days

For the second time this week, Nantucket and Massachusetts State Police officers shut down lower Main Street on Friday, closing streets and sidewalks on a busy summer night due to a bomb threat. But this time, police were dealing with an added wrinkle: the threat included information that the person was armed with a gun. The FBI is now investigating.

The incident began unfolding around 7:21 p.m. Friday, Nantucket Police said in a statement released Saturday, when "the Nantucket Communications Center received a report from the Massachusetts State Police of an improvised explosive device (IED) in a box in the area of 16 Main Street. Additional information was received indicating the person reporting the IED was armed with a gun."

Officers had their firearms drawn and trained on a white Jeep that was parked in front of the Ralph Lauren store at 16 Main Street. They secured the area with yellow police tape after evacuating pedestrians and several businesses. An officer at the scene told the Current, "We may be dealing with a person who is armed and dangerous."

The standoff continued for more than three hours before a Massachusetts State Police bomb squad and a police canine searched the white Jeep. Shortly afterwards, the yellow caution tape came down, and Main Street was reopened. But that wasn't the end of the incident. 

"At approximately 10:12 p.m., the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad arrived on scene and conducted a thorough search of the area. The search did not locate or indicate any sign of an explosive device," Nantucket Police stated. "At 11:13 p.m., the Nantucket Communications Center received an additional report of a bomb in the Ralph Lauren building located at 16 Main Street. The Massachusetts State Bomb Squad did an additional search of the building and surrounding area and determined the scene safe at 1:09 a.m., August 9, 2025. The case remains open and under investigation by Nantucket Police Department Detective Unit, Massachusetts State Police and the FBI."

“We were at Club Car having dinner and the police told everyone to leave as there is another bomb threat for Main Street,” one witness told the Current.

The Club Car, The Gaslight, and Murray's Liquors were all ordered closed by public safety authorities Friday evening as the situation unfolded. 

The incident comes just days after a bomb threat on lower Main Street similarly prompted a heavy law enforcement response to the area, where officers blocked off streets, closed businesses, and prevented pedestrians from walking on the sidewalks.