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Anti-Muslim incident on the Orange Line leads to bomb threat charges – Metro US

Anti-Muslim incident on the Orange Line leads to bomb threat charges

Free transit Friday in Boston
Nicolaus Czarnecki/Metro

A man on an Orange Line train Monday night shouted anti-Muslim slurs at a woman wearing a headscarf and made false accusations that the woman had a bomb, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office.

Sean Devlin, 34, was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on Tuesday on charges of violating a person’s civil rights, making a false bomb threat and the malicious destruction of property over $250 in connection with the Monday night incident.

Officials say that Devlin, who provided an address in North Reading as well as that of a Boston substance-abuse treatment facility, yelled slurs at a 61-year-old woman and said she had a bomb that would “kill us all.”

Devlin was on an inbound Orange Line train during the incident, which happened at around 10:45 p.m. The woman and a witness told transit police that Devlin had hit the woman in the back with an umbrella, which may result in additional charges.

He then allegedly kicked and punched a train car window until it shattered.

“Behavior like this is inexcusable,” Conley said in a statement. “I want to commend the MBTA passengers, personnel and others who reported and responded to it. There’s no place for hate in Boston or Suffolk County.”

Transit police found three small bottles of alcohol in Devlin’s pockets, according to the DA’s office, and also discovered that he had warrants for misdemeanor offenses in Woburn District Court, Somerville District Court and Lowell District Court.

The judge imposed a $10,000 bail and ordered Devlin to stay away from the victim, witnesses and all MBTA transportation in the event he is released on bail.

After Devlin was arrested, officers and T employees checked the train. They found “nothing unusual” aside from the window that Devlin allegedly broke, officials said. Devlin is due back in court July 17.