A bomb threat temporarily delayed a Steve Lacy concert at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom Wednesday night, sending police to the historic Uptown venue just before 7 p.m. before the show was ultimately allowed to continue. Officers responded after receiving a report of a threat at the music hall, and an investigation determined it was not credible.
According to NBC Chicago, Chicago police officers were called to the Aragon Ballroom just before 7 p.m. after receiving a bomb threat tied to the scheduled Steve Lacy concert there. Authorities later determined the threat was “not Bonafide,” the station reported, and the concert was allowed to proceed as planned.
The Aragon Ballroom sits at 1106 West Lawrence Avenue, according to a report from Hindustan Times, which also noted that Lacy had two shows booked at the venue — one that took place September 30 and a second slated for Thursday, October 1.
FBI Confirms Awareness, Points to Federal Risk
The FBI released a statement saying it was aware of an “unsubstantiated threat” at the venue and that it would continue working with local and state law enforcement to investigate such threats, per the same NBC Chicago report. The bureau used the moment to reiterate a broader warning: hoax threats and swatting attempts are crimes that carry severe, long-lasting consequences, including federal prison sentences as well as state or local criminal charges.
The FBI defines swatting as the malicious tactic of making hoax calls or reports to emergency services, typically by feigning an immediate threat to life, according to an agency alert. The bureau has said it takes these threats seriously and coordinates with federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement partners to respond to and investigate them.
Past Cases Show Steep Penalties
The FBI has pointed to past hoax-threat cases that ended in significant prison time. In one instance detailed by the agency, an 18-year-old was sentenced to 21 months in prison and a 19-year-old received 27 months for related conduct, while a young man in Texas who issued threats against Minnesota schools and called in fake hostage situations was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison after pleading guilty.
Wednesday's scare in Chicago echoes a similar episode overseas earlier this year, when a Peter Kay show in Birmingham was cut short after a bomb-hoax arrest; police there said no items of a suspicious nature were found, according to the BBC. The Chicago concert proceeded, but Peter Kay's Friday Birmingham performance did not resume that night; only the separate Saturday show was scheduled to go ahead.
