CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice said he wouldn’t be surprised if a bomb threat which forced the clearing of his Greenbrier Resort on Sunday was tied to his comments about the overturning of Roe v Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It’s awfully suspicious that it all happened from the standpoint of this Roe v Wade Decision and my stance. I think we should stand for life. That’s what I said and that’s what I did and that’s how I’ve always been,” Justice said Monday during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.”
The threat was phoned into the Monroe County 911 Center on Sunday afternoon. The threat said the bomb was going to go off at 4 p.m. at the Greenbrier, according to Justice. He got word of the threat and was in Beckley and immediately headed toward the resort.
State Police, Greenbrier security, and other law enforcement converged on the resort and started to evacuate guests. However, it took some time. Justice estimated there were 2,000 guests and another 1,000 employees who needed to be moved out. Some were older and the evacuation was slow.
“They were doing the best they could possibly do, but being able to give you the thumbs up that everything was okay, they couldn’t do that. You surely to God above couldn’t leave those people in the hotel and hope for the best,” Justice said.
There was a bomb threat at The Greenbrier this past weekend. @WVGovernor discusses what occurred that day, and he provides the latest details to @HoppyKercheval. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/ix4macQ0kS
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) June 27, 2022
Troopers using bomb sniffing dogs cleared the chapel for people to seek shelter in air conditioned comfort while the rest of the hotel and resort were searched.
Another call at 3:39 p.m. from the same individual said, “You’re running out of time.”
Eventually the “all clear” signal was given about 6 p.m. and guests returned to their rooms.
“It’s a crying, pitiful shame. The FBI and State Police are working diligently to find this person and I think they will,” Justice said.