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Riverhead teen charged in June bomb scare at Target

By Vera Chinese

Riverhead Town Police have arrested a Riverhead teenager in connection with a bomb scare at the Route 58 Target store earlier this year.

16-year-old Joseph Hooghkirk was arrested at police headquarters Monday and charged with first-degree placing a false bomb or hazardous substance. The arrest occurred about 9:30 a.m., police said.

A suspicious device, which was inside a box with wires and a timer attached, was found by an employee inside the store on June 14, police said. It was then moved to the parking lot by an employee.

The Suffolk County Police Emergency Service Unit was called to the scene to examine the object and said it was not an explosive device. No further details regarding the investigation were available.

BARBARAELLEN KOCH FILE PHOTO | The Target store on Route 58 in Riverhead.

Vera Chinese has been the editor of northforker.com and northforker magazines since May 2014. Prior to that she spent two and a half years as a staff reporter for the New York Daily News. She joined the Riverhead News-Review as a staff writer in January 2010 and was named Associate Web Editor nine months later. She previously worked for the Southampton Press Western Edition and was named the third place 2008 Rookie Reporter of the Year by the New York Press Association. She graduated from Wagner College in 2006 where she received a bachelor's degree in English. She earned a master's degree in English education from New York University in 2007. She is a 2002 graduate of Eastport High School and has lived on the East End for more than 20 years.

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