Federal Bureau of Investigation

Listen: Caller Threatened ‘Bomb in the Airport' Before EMT Stabbing

At least six airports received threats in a span of less than two hours, according to documents obtained by the NBC10 Boston Investigators

Federal investigators continue to probe a string of bomb threats made the day before a pair of ambulance workers were attacked in Boston — including warnings that authorities suspect were made by the East Boston woman later charged in the EMT attacks.

Julie Tejeda, a 31-year-old East Boston resident with a history of mental health issues, was named by Massachusetts State Police as a suspect in the bomb threats. Authorities said Tejeda is suspected of calling in a threat to Martha's Vineyard Airport and other locations on the morning of July 9.

Law enforcement authorities in Washington, D.C., also identified Tejeda as a suspect in a bomb threat made against a D.C.-area airport the same day.

While federal authorities have declined to discuss their investigation, documents obtained by the NBC10 Boston Investigators show at least six airports received similar threats in a span of less than two hours.

The first was received by O'Hare International Airport in Chicago at 4:55 a.m. In an audio recording obtained by NBC10, a female caller can be heard warning: "There is a bomb in the airport! You (expletive) hear me?! There is a bomb in the (expletive) airport! O'Hare!"

Two minutes later, a woman speaking in what police described as an "angry tone" contacted the airport operations center at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas and communicated another threat.

More calls followed between 5-6:30 a.m. at St. Louis Lambert Airport, Martha's Vineyard, Miami International Airport and Washington, D.C. In at least four instances, the calls were linked to a single phone number.

Records show by 9:30 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration had deemed all of the threats "non-credible," and investigators were zeroing in on Tejeda as a suspect.

"I was informed she lives near Boston Logan Airport but has a FL driver license," reads a report prepared by a law enforcement official in Texas.

Surveillance video shows a joint terrorism task force visited Tejeda's home later that night. Massachusetts State Police said Tejeda was cooperative, had no previous criminal record or history of violence. They chose not to arrest her, but took her phone as part of their investigation.

The next day, July 10, Tejeda is accused of attacking EMT workers inside an ambulance as they brought her to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

On Friday, a Boston Municipal Court judge determined Tejeda is not fit to stand trial for the charges of assaulting the EMTs. She was ordered to continue undergoing treatment at the Worcester Recovery Center while her case is pending.

"She is someone who is suffering from some severe mental distress," her lawyer, Eduardo Masferrer, said after Friday's hearing. "There were some professionals who evaluated her. They determined that she is presently not competent."

Tejeda is next due to appear in court in March 2020.

It's unclear what will come of the alleged bomb threats. After responding to Tejeda's home last month, Boston police applied for a criminal complaint to charge her with making bomb threats. A hearing on the complaint is currently scheduled for Aug. 28 in East Boston District Court.

Airport and law enforcement authorities in Texas, Washington, D.C., and Florida denied requests to release their records related to the bomb threats, citing the active federal investigation. Officials in the Boston office of the FBI declined Friday to comment on that investigation.

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