UPDATED: GPD arrests suspect of June 5 and 6 bomb threats
The Guam Police Department has arrested 29-year-old Kevin Ventura Galvez in connection to a series of bomb threats made on June 5 and 6, according to a statement by acting GPD public information officer Sgt. Paul S.N. Tapao.
Detectives with GPD's Juvenile Investigation Section conducted follow ups which led to the discovery of a phone number used to call in the threats and were able to identify a person of interest, their place of employment, and home address the statement said.
GPD made a home check in Dededo, in which Galvez was located and was later transported to the GPD Headquarters in Tiyan. Police were also able to confiscate a cellphone at the residents.
Galvez was later arrested and charged with:
Terroristic conduct;
Making false reports; and
False alarm.
His case has been forwarded the Office of the Attorney General of Guam for prosecution.
Bomb threats were made at the Micronesia Mall's Food Court and Payless Supermarket and the Hotel Nikko Guam, on the night of June 5.
The following day, threats were also made at the Guam Premier Outlets, Agana Shopping Center, the Dusit Thani Guam Resort, and the Office of the Governor, all of which prompting large scale evacuations of the site.
Dusit Thani Guam Resort was temporarily closed following a reported bomb threat on June 6. Photo by Skyler Obispo
According to Krystal Paco-San Agustin, the governor of Guam’s director of communications on June 6, the bomb threats had canceled all public events scheduled for that day.
The Guam International Airport Authority's and GPD's K-9 units have been deployed to investigate the threats, GPD said on June 6 also. mbj
With Super Typhoon Bavi now packing maximum sustained winds of 160 mph and forecast to strengthen further as it moves toward the Marianas, emergency officials are urging businesses and residents to treat this weekend as their critical window to prepare for potentially damaging winds.
Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are now in Condition of Readiness 3 as Typhoon Bavi approaches, with both governors urging residents and businesses to use the remaining hours of fair weather to prepare.
Task Force Talon relinquished command to the 3rd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment (3-43 ADA), ushering in a new battalion to take over Guam’s air missile defense systems.
Emergency management agencies across the region are urging residents and businesses to execute disaster preparedness plans as Tropical Storm 09W is forecast to rapidly intensify and potentially strike Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands as a Category four super typhoon.
