Woman Arrested For Threat Against Walpole Times Journalist
WALPOLE (CBS) - A Walpole newspaper office is temporarily shut down after one of its journalists received a specific threat. The woman accused of sending it is under arrest.
She's been a journalist for 40 years, according to her attorney, but 64-year-old Amy Zuckerman is now accused of threatening to harm those in her own profession
Police say Zuckerman sent an email to a writer at The Walpole Times, accompanied by a detailed physical description of the newspaper's office.
"The specific threats were mentioned shooting a firearm through the window of The Walpole Times while people were there," Walpole Police Chief John Carmichael said.
Zuckerman was arrested Saturday at her home in the Western Mass. town of Shutesbury. Police say she was upset with the newspaper because they refused to publish an article she wrote.
"We figure that we had to give some credibility to it especially in light of what just happened in Maryland we took it seriously, the people at Walpole Times took it seriously," Chief Carmichael said.
GateHouse Media owns the Walpole Times and a spokesperson said they immediately made sure everyone left the office after the threat. She said normally four employees work there.
Prosecutors say Zuckerman is known to police and at least three departments say she suffers from mental illness.
Her attorney insists she's not a threat. "She's been a journalist for 44 years, she's known on Wikipedia, she's authored books, her job is dedicated to journalism," attorney Michael Stapleton said.
The spokesperson for GateHouse Media says there will be extra security at the office when workers return.