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The Sweetwater police responded this Sunday to a bomb threat at the Dolphin Mall, the largest outlet center in Miami, located in the municipality of Sweetwater, in Miami-Dade County.
After a preliminary inspection of the venue, the authorities declared the area safe and the shopping center reopened its doors to employees and visitors shortly before 11 a.m..
The Sweetwater police reported that they will maintain a "high visibility presence" in the area to provide an additional layer of public safety.
The incident does not occur in isolation: just the day before, on Saturday, the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office had responded to a similar threat at Dadeland Mall, in the Kendall district, south of Miami, where canine units and specialized teams were also deployed, finding no device.
That same Saturday, authorities also investigated a bomb threat at Baptist Hospital, in the southwest part of the county, which also turned out to be false.
The pattern extends to previous weeks: in March, Zoo Miami received threats for three consecutive days —on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of that month— which forced the evacuation of visitors and employees each time. The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office classified some of those calls as possible false alerts designed to provoke an emergency response. The zoo reopened on March 16 with enhanced security measures, including sweeps by canine units and improved inspection protocols.
Around the weekend of March 29 and 30, the Miami International Mall was also the target of a threat, and police broadcasts suggested it might be the same individual who threatened the zoo. As of this Sunday, no arrests have been reported related to any of these recent threats at shopping malls or other institutions in the county, and the investigation into the origin of the calls and anonymous messages remains ongoing in coordination with state and federal agencies.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office issued a statement on Sunday warning that false threats are not a joke, but a crime. "These actions endanger innocent people, emergency services, and entire communities by diverting resources from real emergencies," the statement read, adding that the office "will investigate and seek charges against those responsible."
Under the Florida Statute § 790.163, making a false bomb threat is a second-degree felony, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison, 15 years of probation, and fines of up to $10,000, in addition to the obligation to cover the costs of the emergency response. The law does not allow for suspension or deferral of the sentence, which means permanent criminal records for those found responsible.
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