New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo raised unnecessary fears on Sunday when he denounced a hoax bomb threat against Times Square, Fox News informed citing The Post.
The NYPD initiated an investigation of a Saturday social media post threatening to blast Times Square with two pounds of explosives, determined the post was a hollow threat, and decided not to issue a statement on it, lest they stoke public fear — but that didn’t stop Cuomo from putting out a grandstanding press release on Sunday.
“There is no indication that this threat is credible, but with that said, state police will be on the ground working with NYPD and partners to step up patrols in the area during the day,” reads the statement, which a Cuomo spokesperson said was released out of an “abundance of caution.”
A City Hall source called the move “a classic Cuomo publicity stunt.”
While Cuomo claimed that his state cops would work with the NYPD, he never actually spoke with city cops before issuing his declaration, an NYPD source said, calling it an “odd way of addressing the situation without contacting PD.”
“Cuomo is always looking for attention, especially when it involves the city,” another police source added, noting that Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio “are clearly not friends.”
The threat was also published on Reddit on Saturday and made a reference to “killing all minorities,” a high ranking police source told The Post.
Another law enforcement source said the poster threatened “they are bringing two pounds of explosives to Times Square in New York and ‘setting it off,’ warning people, ‘don’t go today’.”
No details were made available on how the NYPD determined the threat was not credible, but the department beefed-up patrols in Midtown on Sunday as a precaution.
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