PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Senate’s top Democratic leaders received bomb threats on Thursday, one day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot to death in Utah, a spokesman said.
Senate President Valarie J. Lawson, an East Providence Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Frank A. Ciccone III, a Providence Democrat, received the threats at their homes, but no bombs were found, Senate spokesman Greg Pare said. Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said the department’s bomb-sniffing K-9 assisted the state police with checking Ciccone’s home.
“I am grateful for the prompt and thorough response of law enforcement and the fire marshal’s office,” Lawson said in a statement Thursday evening. “Political violence in any form has no place in our democracy. … I strongly condemn all violence, including the violence against Charlie Kirk, and my deepest condolences go out to his family. Let us all remember that we are Americans first, and we settle our differences at the ballot box.”
Spokespeople for Governor Dan McKee and US Congressman Seth Magaziner told the Globe that they had not received bomb threats as of Thursday evening.
The Rhode Island State Police issued a statement saying, “We are aware of several hoax e-mails that contained bomb threats directed at local officials. We take all threats seriously and these incidents are under investigation.”
Pare said, “The Senate president wants to express her gratitude to law enforcement and to the fire marshal for their prompt and thorough response.”
The threats come one day after a gunman shot and killed Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, at an event at a Utah college.
And they come less than three months after a gunman killed Minnesota state Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband and seriously wounded a state senator and his wife while he was allegedly disguised as a police officer.
The Rhode Island Senate elected Lawson, a teachers union leader, as the new Senate president and Democrats picked Senator Frank A. Ciccone III as their new Senate majority leader on April 29. The vote came one day after the funeral for the late Senate president Dominick J. Ruggerio, who died on April 21 at age 76 after battling cancer.
This story has been updated with a statement from Lawson.
With reports from staff writer Amanda Milkovits
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
