Fake bomb sparks US airport alert
A 19-year-old student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology walked into Boston’s Logan International Airport on Friday with a fake bomb strapped to the outside of her sweatshirt and was arrested at gunpoint.
Star Simpson, who is from Hawaii, wore a computer circuit board, wiring and Play-Doh strapped over her black hooded sweatshirt and in plain view.
Maj Scott Pare, the commanding police officer at the airport, said: “She is extremely lucky she followed the police officer’s instructions or deadly force would have been used. And she is lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue.”
Police tracked Simpson to the airport’s Terminal C, where they arrested her and determined the device was a fake. Pare said he did not know what her motive was. Simpson has been charged with disturbing the peace and possessing a hoax device.
Simpson later claimed the fake bomb was an artwork.
Pare added: “She told us it was a piece of art and that she was proud of the art and she wanted to display it.”
The device had wires connected to a battery, allowing it to light up, he said.
“I’m shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport,”
