“It is real – this is a real thing,” Peoria’s mayor, Rita Ali, said, according to a local news outlet WMBD, after authorities discovered a bomb at a local industrial facility on Friday.
The discovery at BioUrja Renewables triggered a mandatory evacuation over a one-mile zone encompassing sections of Peoria as well as the adjacent municipality of East Peoria, the Guardian reported.
Peoria police chief Brad Dixon said at a news conference early on Saturday that bomb technicians had rendered the object safe, the Peoria news outlet WEEK reported.
Authorities asked for the public’s patience as investigators searched the expansive facility for other potential explosive devices. “We don’t know if there are other devices,” Ali said.
Agents will tirelessly hunt down whoever is accountable and bring them to justice, according to Ryan Presley, the FBI official heading the bureau’s field office located roughly an hour away in Springfield, Illinois.
At about 7.05pm local time on Friday, the Peoria police department announced that officers were actively investigating a reported bomb threat at BioUrja Renewables. People living or working within a one-mile radius of the site were instructed by the agency to vacate their homes and business premises immediately until further notice.
Police said the evacuation notice was issued out of an abundance of caution while emergency personnel investigated the threat, which officials initially referred to as a suspicious package. Manual Academy was made available by the city to serve as a temporary shelter, while law enforcement said that anyone needing help with the evacuation could place a call for assistance.
Neighboring East Peoria’s municipal government released a separate statement confirming that the perimeter set up for the package reached into a section of their city as well.
“This is not a hoax,” the Illinois state senator Dave Koehler said during the early Saturday news conference. “This has gone beyond that … This is serious. This is serious.”
The incident at the alcohol- and ethanol-manufacturing facility on Friday coincided with an exceptionally turbulent day nationwide in the United States, highlighted by a four-hour nationwide ground stop mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration that caused the cancellation or delay of upwards of 11,000 flights across the country.
Omar El Sayed – World Editor
