Police outside the Queens Place Mall Monday (Citizen)
Jan. 5, 2021 By Allie Griffin
A 22-year-old man with a history of spewing far-right conspiracy theories online turned himself in to police early Tuesday morning for the bomb hoax at the Queens Place Mall a day before.
Louis Shenker called 911 and surrendered to police at around 3 a.m. Tuesday, police said. He is accused of planting a fake bomb in a vehicle parked inside the garage of the Queens Place Mall on Monday morning, according to the NYPD.
Police officers received a call at 8:40 a.m. Monday that a device with a battery hooked up to two propane tanks was sitting inside a black Tesla — believed to be stolen — at the parking garage.
The mall was evacuated and the NYPD Bomb Squad responded to the scene and determined that the device was a hoax meant to look like an explosive.
Shenker has since been arrested on charges of false bomb and hazardous substance, criminal possession of stolen property and abandonment of an animal. A dog that was inside the Tesla was safely recovered by police.
Explosive device hoax (NYPD via Twitter)
The bomb hoax is not Shenker’s first run-in with law enforcement. He was recently arrested for arson after he burned a Black Lives Matter poster affixed to a police barricade, NBC News reported.
The 22-year-old has also posted anti-mask statements and false claims that President Donald Trump won the election on his social media accounts — which have since been suspended.
He also hosts a podcast called “The Minuteman,” on which he regularly shares his far-right views, and has appeared on the conspiracy show InfoWars.
Shenker was reportedly expelled from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, for a controversy stemming from his alt-right views and actions.
His last known address was in Amherst, Massachusetts, police said.
One Comment
Last night Trump supporters attacked the police in Washington D.C.. These are dangerous times for all Americans.
Instead of calling for calm, the president is welcoming resistance to a free and fair election…
Instead of working for a smooth transition of power, the president is dangerously putting stumbling blocks in front of the incoming administration…
Instead of speaking truth, the president continues to foster dangerous lies…
It’s no wonder this 22 year old has created criminal havoc. The problem is that the next time this happens the bomb may be real!