{"id":206202,"date":"2026-03-26T00:39:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T00:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/206202\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T00:39:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T00:39:36","slug":"man-charged-with-making-threat-involving-explosives-to-macdill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/206202\/","title":{"rendered":"Man charged with making threat involving explosives to MacDill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 A St. Petersburg man has been charged with making a threat involving explosives to MacDill Air Force Base, prompting a lockdown of the base.<\/p>\n<p>Federal investigators said 38-year-old Jonathan James Elder called the base on March 18 and referenced the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay28.com\/news\/region-hillsborough\/fbi-tampa-says-suspicious-package-at-macdill-afb-contained-possible-energetic-materials\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">discovery of a suspicious device at its visitor center two days earlier<\/a>, before making a statement interpreted as a threat to detonate an explosive. The call led to all gates closing and personnel <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay28.com\/news\/region-hillsborough\/macdill-air-force-base-lifts-shelter-in-place-order-but-remains-under-a-heightened-security-position\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sheltering in place for about four hours<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay 28&#8217;s Jada Williams caught up with <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay28.com\/news\/region-hillsborough\/threat-to-macdill-air-force-base-prompts-shelter-in-place-procedures-officials\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">military families urging calm during the lockdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Court documents say authorities traced the call to Elder, who lives in an assisted-living facility and is linked to another threatening call made minutes earlier. <\/p>\n<p>Investigators said Elder admitted to making the calls after his arrest. A review of his phone showed searches for MacDill\u2019s number and news about the earlier device incident.<\/p>\n<p>Elder was evaluated under the Baker Act for mental health concerns. He is charged with violating 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 844(e) related to threats by means of fire or explosives.<\/p>\n<p>Elder&#8217;s next court appearance is scheduled for April 23 in Tampa.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/REBECCA.PETIT.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd recruits unpaid TSA, ICE agents amid shutdown<\/p>\n<p>TSA resignations and absences have skyrocketed since the partial government shutdown began on Feb. 14.<\/p>\n<p>Polk Sheriff looks to recruit TSA and ICE agents<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 A St. Petersburg man has been charged with making a threat involving explosives to MacDill&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[205,5953,4920,54817,94623,276,94624,89074,135,3670,137,136,208],"class_list":["post-206202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-abc-action-news","tag-bomb","tag-bomb-threat","tag-elder","tag-explosive-threat","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-james-elder","tag-macdill","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-local-news","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-wfts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}