Adams Co. Courthouse evacuated due to bomb threat

UPDATE: Adams County Sheriff Rich Wagner said the Adams County Courthouse was cleared and would reopen at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

QUINCY — The Adams County Courthouse was evacuated Tuesday morning after a phoned-in bomb threat, and Adams County Sheriff Rich Wagner says it will remain closed until at least 1 p.m.

“Courthouse has been evacuated due to a bomb threat called into 911,” Wagner said in a written statement. “No credible threat has been found. However we are taking precautions. Illinois Secretary of State bomb squad is en route to do a precautionary search.”

The bomb squad arrived at the courthouse at 10:45 a.m., and bomb-sniffing dogs were deployed on cars parked on Vermont and Fifth Street. Wagner told employees to go home and wait to hear from their supervisors for when they could return. However, if they had parked their car on Vermont or on Fifth Street, they were not allowed to drive their car.

“The first rule is to make sure everybody is safe,” Wagner said. “We evacuated the courthouse of all civilians and employees. They’re all in a safe place right now. We’ve asked them to just go home, find a safe ride home and stay there until about 1 p.m. We’ll decide if we can open the courthouse then.”

Wagner said the 911 dispatch center received a call at 8:37 a.m. about a bomb threat at the courthouse. The courthouse was closed and evacuated, and a perimeter was set around the courthouse. Vermont Street was blocked to traffic at the intersections of Fifth and Sixth. Fifth and Sixth also were blocked at the intersection of Broadway.

“We would like for the public to not come to the courthouse until we have sent notice of the courthouse re-opening,” Wagner said.

A courthouse employee told Muddy River News that she received the first alert to shelter in place at 8:52 a.m. “Then, we were sent down (to a sub-basement of the courthouse) at 9:09 a.m.,” she said.

People in different portions of the building were allowed to leave between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Some people got in their cars and left, while others were moved to a gas station across Broadway and then moved to the sally port just to the east of the Quincy Police Department.