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Homeless man accused of phoning in bomb threat at Forest Hills subway station last week

Police say the man pictured at left phoned in a phony bomb threat on Oct. 13 at the 71st-Continental Avenues station in Forest Hills.
Photo: Harrison Leong/Wikimedia Commons, with inset courtesy of NYPD

Detectives cuffed a homeless man on Wednesday, six days after he allegedly phoned in a bomb threat at a train station in Forest Hills.

Police say Brian Harrison, 56, allegedly used a pay phone at the 71st-Continental Avenues station to call 911 at 9:31 a.m. last Thursday, Oct. 13, and told the operator that a bomb was going to go off at the location.

 

Law enforcement sources said Harrison allegedly entered an elevator at the station, pressed the emergency call button and stated, “The bomb will go off in 6 minutes and 57 seconds.” Video footage of the suspect later released by police earlier this week showed him entering and exiting the elevator while carrying a backpack and a cane.

Police took the threat seriously and searched the station for explosive devices, but found none. Trains on the E, F, M and R line skipped the station for a time while the investigation was underway.

Through their investigation, detectives tracked down Harrison and, following questioning at the 112th Precinct stationhouse in Forest Hills, charged him with three counts each of filing a false report and making terroristic threats.