Rush Limbaugh Bomb Scare: Authorities Called To Palm Beach House After Suspicious Package Discovered

A suspicious package mailed to conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh Thursday afternoon at his North End home contained nothing dangerous, the Sheriff’s Office bomb squad determined after opening it.

While the bomb squad checked the package, Palm Beach police blocked off North Ocean Boulevard and re-routed northbound traffic onto North Ocean Way. Palm Beach Fire-Rescue also was at the oceanfront Limbaugh compound.

“I didn’t know what it was, a fire or not,” said a Limbaugh neighbor, attorney Maura Ziska. “I asked the Sheriff’s Office and they said, ‘We can’t tell you. You just need to go back in your house. There could be an explosion and the wind is blowing in your direction. So you need to go back into your house and be safe.'”

Palm Beach police spokesman Fred Hess said the 18-by-18-inch package was delivered late in the afternoon and was X-rayed, as is all mail sent to the Limbaugh home. When Limbaugh’s staff saw what appeared to be wires in the package through the X-ray, they called police. “In Palm Beach, people tend to be very cautious, especially an internationally known person,” Hess said.

The package was mailed by a man in the Wexford suburb of Pittsburgh, Pa., as a “business opportunity” for Limbaugh, Hess said. The man was not immediately identified, but when authorities called him he apologized, Hess said.

The package contained an electronic plaque commemorating the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, authorities said. No further details about the plaque were immediately available, and Limbaugh sent word through his property manager that the news media would not be allowed to photograph the package. Limbaugh and his wife, Kathryn, were at home throughout the incident, and sent word to the gathered media via Hess that they would make no comment.

The bomb squad took the package into an empty guest house on the property, decided to open it rather than blow it up, and found the plaque, authorities said.

Earlier in the day, ABC News reported that Limbaugh made national headlines when he rang in on his radio show with derogatory comments about a woman who had wanted to testify on Capitol Hill.

No connection was made, however, between the package and Limbaugh’s comments. The man told authorities he merely meant to offer Limbaugh a business opportunity, and that the man was “very apologetic.”

{Palm Beach Daily News/Matzav.com Newscenter}