Cops investigate bomb threat as a hate crime

By Regina Clarkin

August 17, 2023

A bomb threat, received in an email at an Albany television news station Saturday afternoon, sent Peekskill police to a Nelson Avenue residence and a store on S. Division Street. The residents of the home and occupants of the Flatiron Building, where the store is located, were evacuated while the Peekskill canine unit and the Westchester County bomb squad cleared the buildings and found no bomb.

“It took a couple of hours from the time we received the call until we deemed it safe to return,” said Peekskill Police Lt. Adam Renwick. The call from WPIX 11 News came in to the police station at 2:43 pm.

The focus of the threat was the gift store Bucko! on the ground floor of the Flatiron Building. The store is owned by Brian and Katie Orsi, and their home on Nelson Avenue was also targeted. The Peekskill Coffee House on the ground floor of the Flatiron Building and a number of art galleries and offices on the second and third floors of the building were also emptied while police searched the area. The Bean Runner cafe and Mundos Fiesta shop, Rafaelina’s Beauty Salon across from the Flatiron Building were also evacuated.

The area across from Bucko! on Esther Street. (Herald file photo)

Bucko! had originally planned to host a “Drag Story Hour” event on Saturday afternoon, but the event had been canceled more than a week before by the group organizing the story hour. The Orsi’s, parents of two young children, initially agreed to speak with the Herald about the incident – but later, explaining that they continue to be traumatized by the events, submitted a written statement.

Katie and Brian Orsi Statement

After speaking with some like-minded parents, we became interested in hosting a Drag Story Hour event and trying to do some good in our community. We were happy to host as we are part of and allies to the LGBTQIA+ community. We live this every day and reflect this support in our shop. For those who are unfamiliar, Drag Story Hour is a story hour for kids with a modestly dressed drag performer reading stories of acceptance and positivity. There is absolutely nothing sexual in nature about the event and it is only for families who are interested in participating. It is not being forced on anyone.

Due to space and attendance constraints, and with the safety of all in mind, we required RSVP. We posted the event on Eventbrite, our Instagram account, and a few Facebook parent groups. This went on for three weeks without issue. We had a very positive response from the local parent community, and were expecting approximately 20 families. The event was going to be fun for the kids, manageable, and safe.

We also discussed having a small, local group of adults attend – families without children and “empty nester” allies to simply be present and supportive, without fanfare. Someone in that conversation (but not part of planning the event) who meant well, edited the event flyer, taking off the RSVP, and instead placed text asking to “invite friends but please do not post on social media.” They then sent out an email calling for 100+ people to attend and “surround the story hour as a buffer/security force.” We absolutely did not want this and were unaware this was happening.

We don’t use Facebook outside of simple business advertisements and event posting. We don’t participate in Facebook groups as we’ve found them to be contentious and unhelpful. We prefer to have interactions with the community in our shop, at our events such as ONETWOHEARTU, and around town. We’re always up for a coffee and respectful chat.

Nearby groups began posting the altered flyer to Facebook. The open call for attendees and the statements about not posting on social media, which did not come from us or Drag Story Hour, gave the impression we were trying to hide something. Local extremists and bigots picked up on this and, believing it to be something nefarious, began spreading hate and misinformation online, in local Facebook groups, and the Peekskill Community Network in particular. Even though the ensuing conversations violated the groups’ guidelines on kindness, respect, and hate speech, virtually all the posts and comments remain.

We know that hosting an event like this is in itself, political, as are many daily choices. We live in a deeply fractured world right now. Even so, it was never our intent to create a political protest or rally with a bunch of kids in the middle of it. Our choices regarding the event were the opposite of that. Without the outside interference, we’re confident that there would have been a safe, positive experience for kids, celebrating diversity and love. There are plenty of other avenues for activism, where kids and families are not being put at risk without their knowledge. We support that activism, and hope to pursue this path, too.

There was a disagreement about how this was all unfolding between us and the local Drag Story Hour chapter. They canceled the event, not to appease the extremists but because of our conflict. The event was canceled a week before it was scheduled to occur. We remain fully supportive of the Drag Story Hour organization and its mission. All that we publicly shared was that the Drag Story Event had been canceled, but we were going on with the ONETWOHEARTU show on Saturday, August 12th.

Apparently, news of the cancellation did not reach everyone, and the rhetoric grew more violent and threatening, Supporters began sending us screenshots so we were aware of the situation. We also began receiving threatening messages at Bucko!. On Saturday, we were relieved to see the day unfolding peacefully, people stopping by the shop to express support and say how much they had been looking forward to the story hour with their families.

We’re hesitant to discuss the bomb threat, as we don’t want whoever did this to feel glorified or emboldened, but understand that people in town saw the street closures, heard there was a bomb threat, and want to know what happened. We received an email around 2pm saying that bombs had been placed at Bucko! and our home address, and naming and threatening to kill members of our family if we continued to host Drag Story Hour. We appreciate the diligence of the Peekskill Police and Westchester County Police who evacuated the areas and used bomb-sniffing dogs to clear them. They were thorough and professional. The investigation is ongoing, as it is a Federal crime to make a threat like this. We believe the main intention was to interrupt the already canceled Drag Story Hour, and understand how the resulting evacuation, confusion, and fear has affected everyone.

We believe this is an important story about how small pieces of misinformation can compound and cause great harm, feeding into dangerous extremism. We hope the community will support us in moving forward as we continue to do our part making Peekskill a truly friendly, welcoming place. We will not let fear and hatred win, and we hope to see you at Bucko!.

In response to the comment from the Orsi’s that the Facebook group, Peekskill Community Network, played a part in the conversation, Leslie Lawler who is the administrator of the nearly nine-year-old Peekskill Community Network with some 13,000 members, said she “does her best to balance free speech with what is inappropriate. There are rules created and we try to follow the rules.” She added that there were a tremendous amount of comments that she deleted regarding the story hour at Bucko! “If I see that a thread is going wayward, I jump in and give a three minute warning and ask people to be respectful and civil and if they can’t play nice they won’t be allowed in the sandbox and I’ll shut it down.”

Interior of the gift shop Bucko! (Photo by Regina Clarkin)

Peekskill police are continuing to conduct an investigation, led by the department’s detectives, and are working with the Westchester County District Attorney’s office and exploring the possibility that the incident is a hate crime, said Lt. Renwick.

About the Contributor

Regina Clarkin, Editor and Publisher

When the Peekskill Herald weekly newspaper ceased publishing in August 2000 it was the first time in the history of the city that there wasn’t a local newspaper. The award-winning weekly was often referred to as the ‘glue’ of the community. Founded on January 9, 1986 by Regina Clarkin, Kathy Daley and Rich Zahradnik with a $7,000 credit card line, the paper filled the void created when the daily Evening Star was sold to Gannett and moved out of town. Founding publisher Regina Clarkin continued to live in the Peekskill Cortlandt area and turned her attention to other life endeavors. Through the ensuing 19 years, Clarkin was frequently stopped in town and asked when she would start up the Herald again. In January 2019, Clarkin decided it was less labor intensive to deliver a weekly blog than a print newspaper so she began posting one story a week about life in Peekskill. After a successful crowd funding campaign in 2020, the Herald was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in July of 2021. Peekskill Herald is a digital relative of the former print edition, featuring many of the favorite aspects of the beloved Peekskill Herald such as old pictures, personality profiles and well written stories about newsworthy events. Regina Clarkin is the editor and publisher of the site. Photo by Joe Squillante