The Roots’ SXSW Concert Cancels After Bomb Threat. A Suspect Is In Custody.
Saturday night (March 17), Grammy Award-winning Hip-Hop band The Roots were scheduled to headline a South By Southwest concert. Black Thought, Questlove, and their group-mates had announced “The Roots & Friends” at Austin, Texas’ Fair Market. The concert planned to feature Roots’ jam session performances with Ludacris, Rapsody & 9th Wonder, Tank & The Bangas, and others.
Less than four hours before showtime, Live Nation (the event’s producer) was contacted by email with threats of a bomb. According to authorities, “Austin Police Department began monitoring the threat and responded to the location. Officers conducted a complete check of the area, and no threat was found.” Beer-maker Bud Lite, the event’s top sponsor, opted to cancel The Roots’ show in the interest of safety.
Nearly seven hours after the email was received by Live Nation, local police took a suspect into custody. According to the Austin Police Department’s public statement, “Just after 11 pm, police arrested a suspect that may have been connected to the threat. Trevor Weldon Ingram, 26, was taken into custody and charged with Terroristic Threat, and 3rd Degree Felony.”
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No further information regarding how the suspect was found is made available at this time.
The threats come in a month where several deadly package bombs have detonated in Austin, Texas. Anthony Stephan House, 39, was killed on March 2 in the Northeast section of the city. On Monday (March 12), two separate bombing took place, killing 17-year-old Draylen Mason, and injuring his mother. A second bomb exploded and struck 75-year Esperanza Herrera. As The Huffington Post reports, “All four victims of this month’s bombings were people of color. Mason and House were both African-American. Mason’s mother is African-American, and Herrera is Latina.” No suspects have been confirmed to the public regarding these three bombings.
Both Questlove and 9th Wonder reacted to the news of the arrest online. Quest’ posted a local news report on Twitter, adding, “no one is Mr. ‘show must go on’ than me. But we can’t risk our lives if we are told there was a bomb threat.”
In 9th Wonder’s Instagram post, he shared the suspect’s photo, apparently expressing anger at stereotypes surrounding terrorists, while thanking authorities.
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The Roots are currently recording their 18th album. The band creating more than 260 songs as of late last year, according to Questlove. Black Thought previously reported the title of the album is End Game.