“Suspicious occurrence” near Donald Trump New York rally: What we know

Nassau County police responded to a “suspicious occurrence” near the location of former President Donald Trump‘s Wednesday night rally in Long Island, noting that no explosives were located, the department confirmed to Newsweek.

“We did respond to a suspicious occurrence in the vicinity of the Nassau Coliseum, however there was no validity of an explosive device being found,” a public information officer told Newsweek after a report about an explosive device at the rally site circulated online.

Billionaire tech giant Elon Musk, who has endorsed Trump, reposted an unverified account about explosives at the site on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, with the caption “Wow.” The original post is now unavailable.

“We’re unsure where this information originated, but we can confirm that no explosives were discovered,” the officer told Newsweek. New York State Police posted on X hours later that reports of explosives are “unfounded” and confirmed that the state police are working with Nassau County police and the U.S. Secret Service for the rally.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is set to hold a campaign rally at 7 p.m. in Uniondale, New York, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The rally comes just three days after a suspected second assassination attempt on Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida. The suspect, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was arrested on Sunday.

On July 13, just days before the Republican National Convention, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired shots at Trump, grazing his right ear, killing attendee Corey Comperatore and injuring two others.

Security surrounding campaign events in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election has ramped up. A spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service told Newsweek in a phone interview Wednesday morning that the alleged incident “has no nexus to the rally,” adding that the agency has “no reports of any incidents related to the rally.”

“We coordinate with local, state and other federal entities for these types of visits,” the spokesperson said. Nassau County officials issued a security update ahead of the rally.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said in a statement Wednesday morning: “Reports of explosives being found at the site [of the Trump rally] are unfounded. There is a person who is being questioned who may have been training a bomb detection dog near the site. The individual with the bomb dog falsely reported explosives being found and that individual is currently detained by police.”

Previously, Ryder said at a press conference on Monday: “This will be the safest place in the country on Wednesday.”

“Nobody will be in the Coliseum. We do a complete sweep that night,” Ryder said, adding: “We do a complete sweep again in the morning.”

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment via email on Wednesday.

The venue’s parking lot has been open to rally attendees since 8 a.m. Wednesday, with supporters quickly lining up.

In a Truth Social post Tuesday, Trump said the rally “will be PACKED with Patriots!” Around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Trump shared a video of supporters chanting his name at the rally.

The event is expected to cause congestion and heavy traffic in the area. It has also prompted changes at nearby universities and high schools, including remote classes, and at Nassau Community College, where classes have been canceled after 1:45 p.m.

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Update 9/18/24, 2:50 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.

Update 9/18/24, 1 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.

Update 9/18/24, 11:40 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional context, comment from the U.S. Secret Service and a statement from the Nassau County Police Department.