On Wednesday, January 3, 2024, a “threat” was emailed to the state email account of a State  House employee.  The threat was discovered at approximately 1;45 pm.

At that point, the Capitol Police temporarily shut down and evacuated the building.  There were approxiaely 300 people in the building at the time.  No one was injured.  Two K9 teams from the Maine State Police Bomb Unit responded to clear the building.  There were no explosives found and the threat was deemed to be a hoax.  The threat was similar to threats emailed to state offices across the country according to Shannon Moss, Public Information Officer, for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Assisting the Capitol Police were the Maine State Police, the Augusta Police Department and the  Augusta Fire Department.