Holmes Beach police officers responded to two bomb threats Nov. 21 after a caller claimed he planted explosives near the White Sands Beach Resort, 6504 Gulf Drive, and intended to carry out a shooting at the scene, according to HBPD Chief Bill Tokajer.
Tokajer, in a Nov. 22 interview with The Islander, said the first threat came in around 11 a.m. The caller told dispatch he had hidden a bomb on the resort grounds, was armed, and was “on his way there” in a silver pickup with plans to be an “active shooter.”
HBPD created a two-block perimeter, evacuated guests and urged beachgoers to avoid the area. A search determined the threat was unfounded.
That afternoon, around 4 p.m., the same caller reported a second bomb allegedly buried outside the resort’s fence on the beach. Officers, coordinating with Manatee County’s bomb-detection canine unit, again confirmed the threat was a hoax.
Tokajer said the number used to call in both threats also was associated with a similar call in Apex, North Carolina, earlier that day. He said the HBPD was working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to identify the caller.
In Florida, making a false bomb threat is a second-degree felony.