Weeks After Rash Of Bomb Threats On Nantucket, Investigation Yields No Arrests

One month after a bomb threat struck downtown on Nantucket on August 5th, the first in what would become a rash of such incidents at the peak of summer on the island, the investigation has yielded no arrests, despite the Federal Bureau of Investigation joining the effort.

From August 5th through August 10th, Nantucket Police and Massachusetts State Police troopers responded to three separate bomb threats that targeted vehicles parked in front of the Ralph Lauren store at 16 Main Street. The incidents prompted authorities to shut down a large section of lower Main Street and force several businesses to evacuate for the evening during some of the busiest days of the summer. But Nantucket Police Department Lt. Angus MacVicar told the Current this week that the investigation remains ongoing, and no arrests have been made.

"The false ‘bomb threats’ are actively being investigated by the Nantucket Police Department Detective Unit, Massachusetts State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation," MacVicar said in an email. "I don’t have any further information to share at this time."

Meanwhile, a fourth bomb threat occurred last Wednesday, August 27th, on Main Street, but the law enforcement response was far different from the previous three incidents. No streets were blocked, and no businesses were forced to close. Police did not put out a press release. The incident happened so quietly that people on Main Street were unaware.

Did the lack of response indicate a change in tactics by law enforcement authorities? Or was it due to the nature of the threat that was called in?

MacVicar declined to share any specifics about the incident other than to confirm it was a "similar call," but did state that "We respond to calls for service based on the information we have at the time of the call. This could include the specifics of the call received, location of the call and past history if any exist."

In the aftermath of three bomb threats in five days in early August, many island residents questioned whether the Fisher Real Estate webcam, which is pointed directly at the Ralph Lauren store and provides a livestream of Main Street on YouTube, could have played some role in the ongoing bomb threats.

Fisher Real Estate voluntarily took down the webcam feed following the second incident, but that did not stop the third bomb threat from happening the following night. The webcam remains down as of Thursday night.

The impact of the bomb threats on downtown businesses, however, was significant, and those that were directly affected are still searching for answers.

"With such a short season, being shut down three nights in one week is a huge hit," Gaslight co-owner Callie Kever told the Current last month. "Unfortunately, the point of these false threats seems to be to cause chaos, and getting into the details of exactly how this impacts us seems like it would just fuel the fire. But, yeah, it's incredibly frustrating, has real implications for us, and we hate to see it for our staff. We are hoping for some answers and look forward to hearing from our town officials on what's being done to prevent more of these types of events."