A hoax bomb threat was made Tuesday against a Waldo County restaurant after screenshots of comments the owner made about the shooting of former President Donald Trump were shared by conservative activists on social media.
The authenticity of those screenshots could not be verified, but the owner, Frank Champa, has not responded to multiple attempts to contact him.
Members of the Maine State Police arrived at Ralph’s Cafe in Brooks late Tuesday morning, along with firefighters. They spent a few hours investigating the premises before determining the bomb threat had been a hoax, according to a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
It wasn’t clear whether the threat was connected to the online backlash that Ralph’s Cafe has been facing for the last 48 hours. The restaurant is closed on Tuesdays and no one was inside the building at the time.
Dozens of one-star reviews have been left online for Ralph’s Cafe since Monday evening. The backlash has come after conservative activists accused Champa of writing a Facebook post that made light of the shooting attempt Saturday night on Trump. The accusations have gone viral after they were picked up and shared by at least one prominent conservative account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Those posts have included a screenshot of the apparent Facebook comments by Champa, in which a user of his name wrote, in white letters against a purple background, “Hey guy with the bad aim. You had one job.”
That Facebook post does not currently appear on the public section of Champa’s account. He has not responded to requests for comment, including phone calls made to Ralph’s Cafe, a note left at his home or a message sent to his Facebook account.
A Facebook page for Ralph’s Cafe also appears to have been taken down, though it’s not clear when that happened.
Among the conservative accounts that have assailed Champa are Libs Of TikTok, which has 3.2 million followers on X.
“DISGUSTING,” the account wrote just after 6 p.m. on Monday, in a post that included contact information for the restaurant. “If you live in Brooks, Maine, beware of this restaurant! The owner wants you dead.”
By noon on Tuesday, that post had been shared 11,000 times.
Champa isn’t the only Waldo County person to make controversial comments about the assassination attempt on Trump. A Democratic candidate for the Maine House of Representatives, Brian Blake, wrote on X that the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, “was staged,” apparently embracing false conspiracy theories.
On Tuesday, people who live and work in the vicinity of Ralph’s Cafe declined to share their names with a reporter, but expressed their concerns about the situation
“I think it’s horrible,” said one resident, who identified herself as an artist with a studio down the road from the cafe. “I don’t think anybody should be saying stupid things, and then also not getting life threats because of it.”
BDN writer Jules Walkup contributed reporting.