Minnesota man faces felony charges for train threat

A Burnsville, Minn., man who allegedly told police there was a bomb aboard an Amtrak train headed across Montana has been charged with two felonies.

Police were called about 8 p.m. Monday to eject an allegedly drunken Hussein Abdi Hassan, 24, from the Empire Builder passenger train at Browning.

During the trip to the police station, police say, Hassan told them he had left a bomb in his bag, which was still on board. A search of the train found no bomb, but passengers were delayed nearly 11 hours and faced a difficult evacuation in high winds and snow.

Hassan, who was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of criminal endangerment and one misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $100,000.

Steve Warfield, FBI special agent in Minneapolis, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the incident apparently “has nothing to do with anything going on here [involving terrorism]. It appears to be [little more than] somebody getting out of hand and maybe getting drunk or something like that.”

According to charges filed in Glacier County District Court:

By the time Hassan made the bomb threat, the train already had left the station. It was stopped in a field between Browning and East Glacier and about 140 passengers were evacuated to a nearby middle school.

The passengers included elderly people and two babies younger than 3 months.

The charges read: “In order to get to the buses, the passengers had to step off the train in blowing and drifting snow. The passengers then had to walk about 75 yards across a frozen pond to the buses.”

Among the passengers were six elderly people who were unable to walk the distance to the buses.

Police had to drive through the field and across the tracks with no crossing to retrieve them.

Additionally, several insulin-dependent passengers could not get to their medication because the train was on lockdown status.

Three passengers were injured in the evacuation and were treated at local hospitals.

After Hassan had been removed from the train, he told a Glacier County sheriff’s deputy that he had to be in Seattle for his sister’s graduation and that the police were ruining his chances, according to the charges.

When Hassan began asking about a bag he left on the train, the deputy said he didn’t have it. At that point, Hassan laughed and said, “Damn fools, all of you.”

Hassan spoke in a language the deputy didn’t understand before uttering, “No one will survive on that train.” He also said there was a bomb in his bag, charges state.

A bomb squad from Malmostrom Air Force Base searched the train but did not find any bomb or explosive device.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said the 11-hour delay was worsened by a necessary crew replacement. Workers had been on board longer than federal laws allow, so a new crew had to come in from Shelby, two hours away.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.