Birmingham, AL 01/25/2018
Two men have been arrested and charged with making a series of four bomb threats to the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham.
Brandon Kyle
Malik Senior
The first call came in the Sheriff’s Office warrant detail office just after 10:00 am on Monday, January 22. The warrant office is located in the Jefferson County Courthouse.
The first caller reported that there was an explosive device in the building and said: “you have ten minutes to get everyone out”. The call was taken seriously and the courthouse was evacuated. Once everyone was safely out of the building, explosive detection dogs from the Sheriff’s Office, BATF, and the Birmingham Police Department searched the building. No explosive devices were found.
Just before the search was completed, three more calls came into the Birmingham 911 office reporting a bomb in the courthouse. This caller said, “you will never find the second bomb”. These three calls came from a mobile number that was immediately traced to a man in Lynn Park. He was taken into custody by Birmingham Police and questioned by Sheriff’s deputies. The man was identified as 23-year-old Brandon Rashad Kyle of Birmingham. He told deputies that he had been at the park and had seen the activity around the courthouse. He decided to call in a bomb threat as well. He was arrested and charged with Making a Terroristic Threat. He remains in the Jefferson County Jail with bond set at $10,000.
The information from the original call and threat was immediately forwarded to investigators in the Metro Area Crime Center. Using the technology available through MACC investigators were able to trace the origin of the first call to an address in Center Point. The investigation led to the development of a suspect, 20-year-old Malik Levi Senior of Center Point. Senior had recently been released on bond for drug and burglary charges from the Jefferson County Jail.
On January 24, 2018, detectives obtained an arrest warrant charging Senior with Making a Terroristic Threat. He was arrested at his home this morning and taken to the Jefferson County Jail where he is held with no bond.