Man accused of terror threat after cooler, note left outside Tarrant County offices
A 42-year-old man was arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection with a suspicious package and threatening note left outside a county building in downtown Fort Worth earlier that morning, officials said.
A white Styrofoam ice chest and threatening note directed toward law enforcement officials was left on the porch of the Tarrant County Plaza Building, located at 200 Taylor St., around 7 a.m., the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday in a press release. Several county offices, including the sheriff’s office, are housed at that location.
The building was immediately evacuated, according to the release. The Fort Worth Fire Department’s Bomb Squad didn’t find an explosive device in the ice chest, and the building reopened once the all clear was given.
“It appeared the items and note had been left by the suspect for the purpose of causing mass alarm,” officials said in the release.
A yellow Ford Focus was seen leaving the scene a short time after the package was left, and investigators identified Austin James Starkey as the suspect. Starkey has been known to drive a vehicle of that description, according to the release.
Law enforcement officers from the sheriff’s office and the U.S. Marshals Task Force arrested Starkey in Dallas on Wednesday afternoon, the release said.
Starkey is currently being held in the Tarrant County Jail on a $200,000 bond and faces a felony charge of terroristic threat, according to court records. In April 2023 Starkey was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing, but court records don’t indicate the location.
Separately, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office also investigated an incident of vandalism at the Old Tarrant County Courthouse, located at 100 E. Weatherford St., on Monday morning. A man was caught on security camera footage throwing a rock at the exterior door on the west side of the building, officials said on social media. The rock broke a window on the door.
The suspect was wearing a red hat, a black jacket, black pants and black boots, according to the sheriff’s office. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Detective Soria at 817-884-1271 or TASoria@tarrantcountytx.gov
This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 12:44 PM.
