Police investigated bomb threats against Target stores in Utah after being alerted by local media outlets who received emails referencing the chain’s LGBTQ collections in honor of Pride Month.
Salt Lake City Police Department communications director Brent Weisberg told USA TODAY that officers worked with Target and determined there was no credible threat to the two Target stores in Salt Lake City.
“Agents will continue to conduct neighborhood patrols around the Target locations in Salt Lake City as a precaution,” Weisberg said in a statement.
Weisberg declined to provide details about the threats, citing an ongoing investigation.
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“We encourage anyone who sees anything suspicious to call 9-1-1 immediately,” he said.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Target said its stores are open and operating normal hours.
“Law enforcement officials have investigated these claims and determined that our stores are safe,” the company said.
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Sergeant John Ottesen of the Layton Police Department told CBS affiliate KUTV 2News that bomb threats had been made to Target stores in Layton, Salt Lake, Taylorsville and Provo.
He said officers began the investigation after two local new stations received emails informing them of the threats. The threats related to Target’s Pride merchandise.
The threat was three sentences long and came from a “fake email address,” according to Sergeant Ottesen.
Target has been hit with a conservative backlash for merchandise it carries to promote Pride Month. Target’s website lists hundreds of Pride products, including T-shirts, books, and furniture. Pride Month starts in June.
After critics posted videos of people attacking LGBTQ Pride displays and confronting employees in Target stores, the company held emergency meetings and decided to remove or move some Pride merchandise so it is less visible in stores.
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It involved the spread of misinformation about “pleat-friendly” bathing suits that allow trans women who have not undergone gender reassignment surgery to hide male genitals. Some social media accounts falsely claimed that the swimsuits were sold in children’s sizes.
Conservatives also seized on Target’s collaboration with Abprallen, which they say contains Satanist designs. Target sells an Abprallen sweatshirt with a snake that reads, “Cure transphobia, not trans people.”
Hundreds of bills targeting LGBTQ people — particularly transgender people — have been introduced by Republican legislators in state houses across the country to regulate what bathrooms they can use, what medical care they can receive, and what sports teams they can play on.
Prominent figures in the GOP, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, have raised divisive issues such as gender transition concerns for minors.
LGBTQ groups condemned Target for bowing to political pressure.
“Extremist groups and individuals are trying to divide us and ultimately don’t just want rainbow products to disappear, they want us to disappear,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. The LGBTQ+ community has celebrated Pride with Target – it’s about time Target stood by us and redoubled their commitment to us.”
On Twitter, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, criticized Target CEO Brian Cornell, accusing him of “selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists.”