Key facts
- Peoria mayor Rita Ali said a bomb was found at BioUrja Renewables and called it a real threat.
- Peoria police chief Brad Dixon said bomb technicians rendered the object safe early on November 14.
- Dixon said investigators did not know whether other devices were at the facility and were searching it.
- The evacuation zone covered one mile around the plant, including parts of Peoria and East Peoria.
- The city offered Manual Academy school as a temporary shelter for evacuees.
- Illinois state senator Dave Koehler said at the November 14 news conference that the incident was not a hoax.
Residents were ordered to evacuate parts of an Illinois community on November 13 after the mayor there said authorities found a bomb at a local ethanol- and alcohol-production plant. The discovery at BioUrja Renewables in Peoria triggered a mandatory evacuation over a one-mile zone encompassing sections of that city and the adjacent municipality of East Peoria.
"It is real, this is a real thing," Peoria's mayor, Rita Ali, said, according to local news outlet WMBD. "We know that is a real threat. We know it is a bomb."
Peoria's police chief, Brad Dixon, said at a news conference early on November 14 that bomb technicians had rendered the object in question safe. But Dixon asked for the public's patience as investigators searched BioUrja Renewables' facility for other explosive devices, as the Peoria news outlet WEEK reported. "We don't know if there are other devices," Ali remarked.
Ryan Presley of the FBI, who is in charge of the bureau's field office about an hour away in Springfield, Illinois, said agents would pursue whoever was responsible "tirelessly" and "bring them to justice".
At about 7:05 p.m. local time on November 13, the Peoria police department announced that officers were "actively investigating a reported bomb threat at BioUrja Renewables". The agency then urged "anyone who lives or works within a one-mile radius of the facility to immediately evacuate their homes and businesses until further notice".
The police statement said the evacuation notice had been "issued out of an abundance of caution while officers and emergency personnel investigate the threat", which officials initially referred to as a suspicious package. The city offered the Manual Academy school as a temporary shelter, and police said anyone who needed assistance evacuating could call for help.
In a separate statement, the municipal government of neighboring East Peoria acknowledged that the evacuation zone associated with the package at BioUrja Renewables extended into part of that city. The East Peoria government said it expected to provide an update at about 9 a.m. local time on November 14, but in the meantime all evacuations would remain in place. "This is not a hoax," Illinois state senator Dave Koehler said during the early November 14 news conference. "This has gone beyond that. This is serious. This is serious."
The BioUrja Renewables case came on a day marked by a nationwide Federal Aviation Administration-ordered ground stop at US airports that was in effect for about four hours, canceling or delaying more than 11,000 US flights. A tanker also struck a cruise ship docked on the Mississippi River in New Orleans on November 13 afternoon; first responders rescued passengers from the water after the cruise ship turned on its side, and more than 30 injuries were reported, none critical, with no fatalities reported.