Pittsburgh police are tracking down the source of a threatening message aimed at Mayor Corey O’Connor after it crackled over official police radio channels on Monday, briefly turning routine communications into the center of a criminal probe.
The message was broadcast on police radio circuits and set off an active investigation by the city’s law-enforcement bureau, which is now trying to figure out who sent it and how it made its way onto official channels.
According to CBS News Pittsburgh, the transmission was heard over police communications, and investigators are working to determine its origin. The local video report did not provide many specifics about what was said or how the threat was delivered beyond the police network.
Corey O’Connor, sworn in as Pittsburgh’s 62nd mayor on January 5, 2026, leads the city from the City-County Building. As outlined by the City of Pittsburgh, O’Connor campaigned on public safety and has voiced support for investing in both neighborhoods and first responders, the very systems now responding to the threat.
Investigation Details
Officials have not publicly released the full content of the radio message, and no suspects have been named. The investigation remains active as authorities work to verify that the transmission was an authentic threat and not a hoax, and to trace where it came from.
For now, police are keeping the specifics under wraps while they run down leads on how an apparent threat against the city’s top official ended up on their own communication lines.
Legal Consequences
Threats aimed at public officials can come with serious criminal consequences under Pennsylvania law. Communicating a terroristic threat is prohibited under 18 Pa.C.S. § 2706, which covers communications intended to terrorize or to cause serious public inconvenience, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In other words, it is not something investigators are likely to shrug off.
The mayor’s office and Pittsburgh police did not offer extended public comment in initial reports, and authorities have said only that the investigation is ongoing.
