Crime & Safety

Man Charged With Terroristic Threats, Risking a Castrophe Following South Hills Village Bomb Scare

Bethel Park police charged Frank Zahler, 70, with three felonies on Sunday.

Bethel Park police have charged a Castle Shannon Borough man with making terroristic threats, threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction and causing or risking a catastrophe following a bomb threat at South Hills Village Mall on Sunday.

All of the charges against Frank Zahler, 70, are felonies.

Zahler, who is accused of making a bomb threat at Barnes & Noble Booksellers at South Hills Village on Sunday night, blames his arrest on "hoity, toity kids," according to The Associated Press.

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Police say that Zahler asked some other customers at Barnes & Noble to watch his briefcase and joked that it contained some explosives relating to the Boston Marathon. The customers alerted the store's manager, who then called police.

Police .

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"In my day, we would have laughed it off, you know?" Zahler told reporters, according to The AP. "There's no hope."

The image of Zahler comes from WPXI.

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