Source: X | @FBIPhoenix
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A 46-year-old Tucson man faces federal charges after emailing threats of a bomb strike against the White House and other Washington, D.C., targets to a local television news station in late September. Jacob Aaron Hicks was charged October 8, 2026, with making an interstate threat to injure. Investigators also found unsent drafts of similar threats addressed to multiple national news outlets in the same email account.
ANALYSIS
Jacob Aaron Hicks, 46, of Tucson, Arizona, was charged by federal criminal complaint on October 8, 2026, with making an interstate threat to injure, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 875(c). The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona stated that Hicks sent an email on September 23, 2026, to KGUN9, a Scripps-owned Tucson news station, claiming a bomb strike against the White House and other Washington, D.C., locations was imminent. Hicks made his initial appearance in federal court the same day he was charged.
Federal investigators traced the email to Hicks after KGUN9 shared it with law enforcement. The FBI confirmed to the station that the email prompted an immediate investigation. A subsequent search of the email account linked to the threat uncovered multiple unsent draft messages, also dated September 23, addressed to other national news outlets and containing similar threats against the White House and surrounding federal facilities. Hicks had not sent those drafts before investigators found them.
Prosecutors have not alleged that Hicks acquired explosive materials, constructed a device, or attempted an attack. The charges rest on the threat communications themselves. U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine stated that his office must take threats of violence like this one seriously. No motive has been publicly disclosed, and the investigation is continuing.
Threats against the White House are referred to the Secret Service and FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces for investigation. While the complaint alleges threat-making rather than operational attack planning, the pattern of multiple draft emails prepared for several media outlets indicates Hicks intended to achieve broad broadcast reach for the threat rather than contact a single outlet.
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