Pennsylvania teen charged with making bomb threat in Boston store

BOSTON, March 23, 2025 – A 19-year-old from Pennsylvania was arraigned Wednesday in BMC Central for passing a note containing a bomb threat to a stranger while in a Newbury Street store the day before, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.

LUCAS LEMBCK, 19, of Wayne, PA was charged with one count of bomb/hijack threat.

Judge Richard Sinnott released Lembck on personal recognizance. Lembck is due back in court on April 14 for a pre-trial hearing.

At about 12:40 p.m. on March 18, Boston police responded to Urban Outfitters at the corner of Newbury Street and Massachusetts Avenue. Officers met with the victim outside, who told them that while shopping in Urban Outfitters an unknown male, later identified as Lembck, approached him and said “it’s national Starburst day, I want you to have this,” and passed him a note along with a yellow Starburst. The note read, “I have a bomb don’t say a (expletive) word.” When the victim looked up, the suspect was gone. The victim gave police a description of the suspect and told them he was carrying a backpack.

Officers reviewed security footage from the store and observed the victim with an individual matching the suspect’s description, who is holding what appeared to be the note.

While speaking to officers, the victim alerted them to a person he believed to be Lembck across Newbury Street. Officers approached Lembck and asked if he had recently been in Urban Outfitters.  Lembck said, “I don’t believe so.”  After being read his Miranda rights Lembck admitted to officers he had been in Urban Outfitters and that he had passed a note to someone while inside. When asked why, Lembck said “it was dumb” and that he was “trying to be funny” and thought the victim would know it was a “prank.”

Officers inquired what color Starburst was handed to the victim and Lembck told them “yellow.”

Officers recovered paper inside Lembck’s jacket pocket matching the note given to the victim. Officers also recovered from Lembck one opened and several unopened packages of Starbursts.

Police arrested Lembck without incident.

“It’s difficult to fathom how in this day and age anyone would consider it a prank to hand a note to a perfect stranger in the middle of a major city indicating they were holding a bomb. As this case indicates, such a reckless action causes fear and comes with consequences,” Hayden said.

All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, Mass. The office handles over 20,000 cases a year. More than 160 attorneys in the office practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Boston Juvenile Courts. The office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs to serve anyone who comes in contact with the criminal justice system. This office is committed to educating the public about the services we provide, our commitment to crime prevention, and our dedication to keeping the residents of Suffolk County safe.

James Borghesani, Chief of Communications