PORTLAND, Maine — The Norwegian tourist arrested Wednesday after threatening in an email to kill Portland police officers with explosives and assault rifles will be held in custody pending a detention hearing set for Tuesday of next week.
Originally scheduled for Aug. 4, the hearing was continued to Aug. 9 by order of U.S. Magistrate Judge John H. Rich III, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court.
Espen Brungodt, 28, was arrested without incident by federal agents and local police at an Old Port hotel where he was staying with his family, who were unaware of his threats, according to Portland police.
Brungodt faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to a news release issued Thursday by the U.S. attorney’s office.
He faces a federal charge of transmitting threatening information after police and the Portland Press Herald received an email that allegedly said he and his partners intended to use assault rifles to “shoot and kill as many police officers as they can” from atop a parking garage near the Portland Police Department’s Middle Street headquarters.
“Time for more police to die,” the message said, according to an affidavit filed in federal court by Special Agent Patrick Clancy of the FBI. “We are getting our Sig Sauer MCX .223-caliber rifles ready, and very soon, my partners will shoot and kill as many police officers as they can.
“Meanwhile, I will get into position at the top of the Cumberland County Parking Garage on 188 Newbury St. I have booby trapped the garage with explosives, so don’t go there. Time to take action. More dead cops.”
Police checked the garage, which was closed during the investigation, and found no bombs, Portland police Chief Michael Sauschuck said Wednesday.
The nearby Cumberland County Courthouse also was closed later in the day when police learned the suspect may have been nearby.
The threat was made to Deputy Chief Vernon Malloch from a Gmail account containing Brungodt’s first and last name, according to the affidavit filed Wednesday by the FBI.
An identical threat was sent to the Police Department’s Facebook page through a private message from a Facebook account belonging to Espen Brungodt.
Investigators tracked the IP address used in making the threats to the hotel at which Brungodt and his family were staying. An analyst with the FBI reviewed databases and determined that Brungodt entered the U.S. at the Boston port of entry.
When confronted by investigators in the lobby of his hotel, Brungodt was asked if there were any immediate threats to police.
“No, it had the desired effect,” was his response, according to the affidavit.
Brungodt admitted to making the threats during an interview at the Portland Police Department, according to the court document. At that time he said he also posted the threatening language on a Twitter account he created for that purpose.
Investigators believe Brungodt, who flew into Boston on July 26 and was scheduled to fly out Thursday, acted alone. He was not armed at the time of his arrest, police said.
The threat put police on high alert, and it came just weeks after two high-profile attacks against law enforcement in other states and one day before Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was scheduled to hold a rally at Merrill Auditorium in Portland.
A gunman shot six officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, last month, killing three. That attack came less than two weeks after a sniper in Dallas, Texas, killed five officers and wounded seven others at a previously peaceful Black Lives Matter protest. The Dallas attack has been called the deadliest event for police since 9/11.