The Twitter account of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn was hacked early Thursday morning. The person or group behind it posted 50 messages between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m., ranging from bomb threats, child porn, and racist and xenophobic remarks. According to the Tampa Bay Times, a spokesperson for Buckhorn told a local radio station he was in South Carolina on a hunting trip at the time of the hack.
According to WFLA, the first message posted by the account read, “Hacked by @MeeZoid @CxlvxnSwag @SheepKiller69 you can’t touch US ####.” The hackers changed the name of the account to “Bob Cuckhorn” and changed the avatar to a version of the popular alt-right meme Pepe The Frog before diving back into their tirade. In addition to attacking women’s rights and posting images of child porn, the hackers referenced mass shootings while sneaking in a racist dig at Cubans and Cuban-Americans.
The threats to bomb the Tampa airport ended up drawing the most attention from the mayor’s office and police. The first post referencing the threat, per WFLA, read, “@FlyTPA I have hidden a bomb in a package somewhere at the Tampa international airport. Looking forward to seeing some minorities die.” That was followed shortly after by a fake alert message warning of an incoming missile.
Tampa police told the Tampa Bay Times that at this point in their investigation, the threats don’t appear credible. Detectives are currently trying to figure out who was behind the hacking. In the meantime, Buckhorn’s account has been suspended by Twitter, which is probably for the best.