Al Shami concert at Patio Theater in Chicago canceled after bomb threat, arrest despite promoter’s warnings to law enforcement

CHICAGO (WLS) — A sold-out concert on Chicago’s Northwest Side last week was canceled after a woman was arrested in a fake bomb plot at the theater, despite the concert promoter telling the ABC7 I-Team he tried to alert law enforcement of the order regarding the threats he had received for weeks. .

The case now focuses attention on what the concert promoter says is a long campaign of social media threats against Middle Eastern businesses in the Chicago area and around the country.

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At the Patio Theater on West Irving Park Road on Dec. 6, fans expected to attend a sold-out show by Syrian pop singer Al Shami. But the show didn’t go on.

Hours before the concert began, Chicago police were called after a theater employee said a woman “walked into the Patio Theater holding a box, went to (employee)and did not literally report, “This is a bomb,” according to a copy of the police report obtained by the I-Team. That woman was later identified by police theater workers as 35-year-old Joanna Aguilar.

After the theater was evacuated and the concert was canceled, Chicago police determined that the suspicious package was not a bomb.

Aguilar was arrested and now faces multiple charges, including a felony count of making a false bomb threat.

The fake bomb threat comes after the owner of one of the concert organizers, Thaer Jbara of Al Keif Entertainment, said the event had been threatened online for at least six weeks.

“We can’t move the concert to another place, so (threat actors) they know what they’re doing,” Jbara told the I-Team. “They don’t want any Middle Easterners to do any concerts or weddings or celebrate anything.”

Jbara said many accounts on TikTok and YouTube posted videos urging followers to boycott the concert, and in some cases the videos included threats of violence, including bombing the venue.

The motivation behind the threats, Jbara said, is to target successful American business owners who are of Middle Eastern descent and who the threat actors claim do not follow strict religious doctrine.

In one of the TikTok videos Jbara shared with the I-Team, a person referencing Al Shami’s Dec. 6 concert said in Arabic, “They need someone to burn the hall down, I swear this is the one better thing. While the concert is taking place. kindled, to kindle the fire upon all.”

While some of the TikTok accounts that posted previous threats have been removed, Jbara said new accounts are emerging.

In the weeks leading up to the Al Shami concert, Jbara said he contacted law enforcement, including the FBI, in hopes that agents or police would step in and address the threats, but he said no action was taken.

According to a complaint filed with the FBI on Nov. 11, Jbara wrote: “The (TikTok) threats include intentions to bomb the venue, kill attendees, burn cars, and vandalize or destroy property.”

The I-Team reached out to the FBI’s Chicago office, and in a statement, a spokesman reiterated what Jbara said an FBI agent told him: that after reviewing the online videos, they found no evidence of a credible threats.

“The FBI is aware of reports of alleged threats,” a spokesman for the FBI’s Chicago office told the I-Team on Wednesday. “While we take all threats seriously, we do not have specific and credible information about an attack at this time. However, we have made the appropriate notifications as we continue to work closely with our law enforcement and private sector partners to maintain our community. safe.”

A US citizen for 17 years after moving to Chicago from Jordan, Jbara said he lost $150,000 after Al Shami canceled the show.

He fears for other Chicago businesses owned by Middle Eastern Americans who have also been named in recent threats, some with similar violent language, and hopes law enforcement will take their concerns and reports seriously .

“We need help, especially from the Middle East (business owners)they need help,” Jbara said. “These people think we’re traitors… This won’t stop.”