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Hackers take control of Tampa mayor's Twitter account, announce airport bomb threat

"Upon noticing the hack we immediately began investigating these reprehensible tweets," according to City Hall.
Image: Bob Buckhorn
Bob Buckhorn, mayor of Tampa, at a campaign event with Hillary Clinton in Tampa, Florida, on July 22, 2016.Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg via Getty Images

A hacker took control of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s Twitter account on Thursday morning, spewing racist slurs, posting child pornography and making a bomb threat, officials said.

Buckhorn's verified Twitter feed has more than 50,000 followers and all of his tweets were later removed.

"Earlier this morning we noticed someone hacked Mayor Buckhorn's twitter account, this was clearly not Mayor Buckhorn," the city's official Twitter feed said at 7:12 a.m. ET. "Upon noticing the hack we immediately began investigating these reprehensible tweets."

Tampa police are investigating and city officials urged residents to take routine safety measures, such as changing passwords.

"We will work with @TampaPD as well as all investigators to figure out how this breach was made," according to the city. "We urge residents to change their passwords and continue to alert officials when they see an unlikely change in account activity."

The mayor’s Twitter account was seized at about 4 a.m., NBC affiliate WFLA reported, with an initial post of: “Hacked by @MeeZoid @CxlvxnSwag @SheepKiller69 you can’t touch US," followed by a racial slur.

The hacker claimed to have planted a bomb at Tampa International Airport: "@FlyTPA I have hidden a bomb in a package somewhere at the Tampa international airport. Looking forward to seeing some minorities die."

TIA officials said the threat wasn't credible but said they had still taken "appropriate action" to ensure passenger safety.