Fiesta Mall Employee Writes Bomb Threats, Cops Say; Was Just Looking for Attention | Valley Fever | Phoenix | Phoenix New Times | The Leading Independent News Source in Phoenix, Arizona
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Fiesta Mall Employee Writes Bomb Threats, Cops Say; Was Just Looking for Attention

It's another boring day working at Fiesta Mall. What to do for excitement? If you're Jose Gonzalez, a mall employee who's in a peck of trouble right now, you write a scary threat on a bathroom wall: A bomb will go off at 7:34 p.m. The time sounds too precise...
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It's another boring day working at Fiesta Mall. What to do for excitement?

If you're Jose Gonzalez, a mall employee who's in a peck of trouble right now, you write a scary threat on a bathroom wall: A bomb will go off at 7:34 p.m.

The time sounds too precise to be fake, right? Cops say Gonzalez reported the threat to management, who reported it to police just before 5 p.m. The cops come out, but nothing much happens. A little searching around. No evacuation or anything. Boooring.

So, cops say, Gonzalez wrote and "discovered" another note about 7 p.m. that said something to the effect of, "It's almost time to blow."

This time, cops decided to do some digging on Gonzalez, and discovered he'd been arrested last year for "falsely reporting a robbery," says a police write-up of the incident. (Note on that write-up: Mesa police spokesman Steve Berry tells us it should say "7:34 PM," not AM). Gonzalez reportedly admitted he "wanted the attention."

Cops snark a bit on Gonzalez at the end of their release:

He received the attention he was looking for and was booked for Felony False Reporting and Threats.

Lucky for him it was just a mall, not a school -- that's where the serious charges can stack up.

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