A woman is dead after police in Georgia received an email from a Russian IP address claiming the sender had left a pipe bomb in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s mailbox.
A police officer responding to the scene hit another car, killing its driver, the Republican congresswoman confirmed on X.
“I’m heartsick right now,” Greene wrote.
The Rome Police Department’s assistant chief of police received an email Monday with the subject “For Palestine” that said the sender had created a pipe bomb using “a 1×8-inch threaded galvanized pipe, end caps, a kitchen timer, some wires, metal clips and homemade black powder.”
“It is set to go off during the weekend but it would also explode the next time anybody opens the mailbox,” said the oddly specific threat, which Greene shared in a press release. “Even if Marjorie does not open the mailbox herself I’m still satisfied with the prospect of some pig cops losing their lives or being injured. VIVA VIVA PALESTINA [SIC].”
A bomb squad quickly responded and confirmed the mailbox was empty. It was at least the ninth time Greene has been “swatted,” when fake emergency calls are made to provoke a large police response, the congresswoman said.
But the situation turned deadly when one of the officers responding to the threat got in an accident on the way to Greene’s house, local TV news station WRGA and Atlanta News First reported.
A Rome police officer with the Floyd County Bomb Squad driving a personal truck, a GMC Sierra, hit a Mazda Protégé that was pulling out of a private lot, according to the reports. The Mazda’s driver, 66-year-old Tammie Pickelsimer of Rome, was taken to the hospital and later died of her injuries. The officer, who has not been identified, was not injured.
“These violent political threats have fatal consequences,” Greene wrote on X. “It’s an undue strain on our law enforcement who must treat them seriously.”
Greene said her prayers were with Pickelsimer’s family and the officer involved, and that her office is collaborating with local and federal law enforcement—including the FBI—to catch whoever sent the bomb threat.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Rome Police Department for comment.
