UPDATING: Police Investigating Small Bomb Explosion in Illinois Target Women’s Restroom

Updated with police information

A small bomb exploded in the women’s restroom of an Evanston, Illinois Target store Wednesday around 4 PM local time. Police say no shrapnel was found and they have yet to identify the perpetrator or motive, but anti-LGBT hate spurned by the religious right has led to a boycott of the $74 billion multi-national discount retailer. 

The explosion comes just one day after Target’s annual shareholder meeting, during which anti-LGBT activists forced the company to defend its policy of allowing both customers and employees to use whichever restroom they feel best corresponds with their gender identity. Blogger Joe Jervis identifies the anti-LGBT activists as representatives of the National Center for Public Policy Research. 

“Commander Joe Dugan says no one was inside the bathroom when the small explosion happened,” WGN reports. CBS Chicago adds, a “hazmat team and bomb technicians were called to the scene to investigate, as shoppers walked into and out of the store.” The store was not closed while police investigated but the women’s restroom, which sustained some damage, was.

The religious right media ever since the anti-LGBT confrontation at Target’s shareholder meeting has been reporting on comments from the director of the National Center for Public Policy Research, Justin Danhof.

“Target’s shareholder meeting was appalling from beginning to end,” Danhof said in a statement, according to WND. “Liberal corporate leaders such as Cornell throw around the words ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion” so much they are starting to lose their meaning. In addition to my question, two other shareholders also expressed concern over the company’s offensive bathroom policy. Cornell just kept repeating the same vacuous lines about diversity and inclusion.”

The American Family Association has been leading a boycott against the retailer, claiming they have well over one million signatures on a pledge promising to not frequent Target. 

UPDATE: 1:36 PM EDT –
The Chicago Tribune reports a “person of interest” “has been taken into custody.” The police in a statement say at “this point there is no indication that the incident is related to any policies that the Target store has in place.”

 

Hat tip: Back2Stonewall