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A former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Public Safety is set to plead guilty to threatening to bomb city hall over the city’s support of Israel.
Brian Williams, 31, of Pasadena, California, was charged with one felony count of making an explosives threat. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
Williams was accused of sending a text message to L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other “high-ranking city officials” on October 3, 2024, while he was still in office, claiming he had just received a call from someone who threatened to bomb city hall, prosecutors said in a DOJ release.
“Bomb threat: I received phone call on my city cell at 10:48 am this morning,’” Williams wrote in the text, according to prosecutors.
“The male caller stated that ‘he was tired of the city support of Israel, and he has decided to place a bomb in City Hall. It might be in the rotunda.”
Williams also told them he had contacted the Los Angeles Police Department, who sent officers to search the building. Officers responded, but did not find any bombs, suspicious packages or devices, prosecutors said.
Investigators later discovered that Williams never even received a call, but that he had actually made the bomb threat himself. At no time did Williams intend to carry out the threat, prosecutors added.
According to the DOJ, Williams was in an online meeting with multiple people when he used the Google Voice application on his personal cell phone to place a call to his city-issued cell phone.
Williams sent more texts to the mayor and other officials that read: “At this time, there is no need for us to evacuate the building, I’m meeting with the threat management officers within the next 10 minutes. In light of the Jewish holidays, we are taking this thread, a little more seriously. I will keep you posted.”
In December 2024, following allegations that he had made the threat, the FBI searched Williams' home in connection to the incident, and he was placed on administrative leave.
“In an era of heated political rhetoric that has sometimes escalated into violence, we cannot allow public officials to make bomb threats,” United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in the release
“My office will continue its efforts to keep the public safe, including from those who violate their duty to uphold the law.”
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is continuing to investigate the incident.
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