Florida Highway Patrol protester, by happenstance, becomes bomb suspect
- Brian Patrick Moore
- Jun 12
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 13
NATURECOAST COALITION for PEACE and SOCIAL JUSTICE
Tampa City Police and Fl. Highway Patrol make sweep of lot with police dogs.
News Release: Immediately
Date: Thursday, June 12, 2025
Spring Hill, Florida:
An ICE protester in Tampa found himself becoming an accidental bomb suspect by the Florida Highway Patrol during his public protest of several FHP headquarters criticizing the agency's recent collaboration with ICE in arresting 79 immigrants in Florida.
After briefly attending a Tampa Bay Times "meet and greet" session with reporters and staff at Armature Works early Tuesday afternoon, A political activist from Hernando County, Brian Moore, left the meeting to conduct a singular protest in front of three Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) Stations located in nearby Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties.
Instead, he found himself as a bomb suspect upon the finding of an abandoned package in the parking lot of the FHP's Station on McKinley Road in Tampa, where he was displaying two protest posters on the adjacent highway.
The activist was confronted by the FHP Captain in Charge (her name sounded like Officer Perry?), along with a FHP colleague. She asked Moore if he was responsible for placing an unattended box in the adjacent parking lot of the FHP, adjacent to the DOT building. Moore denied taking such action, despite his critical and provocative signs stating "Immigrants Have Rights too!" and "HIGHWAY PATROL: now Florida [NAZI] SS!"
Moore was asked to back away from the entrance to the FHP offices upon the arrival of four red and blue-lighted FHP patrol cars, six red-lighted Tampa Police patrol cars, an overhead circulating helicopter, and a bomb-sniffing police dog. The lot was cleared of other parked cars. A group of 6-8 police officers, along with one or two police dogs, scanned the lot and determined that the package did not contain anything suspicious.
The FHP Captain approached Moore again, and thanked him for his cooperation and advised he could freely stay or leave the location safely. She apologized for any misunderstanding and he was offered water by both officers as well.
Moore mentioned to the engaging Captain that he planned to travel next to the FHP Land O'Lakes' Station on Ayers Road, next to SR 41, in Pasco County, to continue his protest; and then to the Ponce De Leon Road in Brooksville, in Hernando County. She informed him that the Brooksville station is being renovated, and is not in use now. However, she said, when it is completed, she will be put in charge of that Hernando County FHP Station.
When Moore arrived at the Land O'Lakes FHP headquarters, he entered the office to provide a paper copy of his protest poster, and to inform them that he would be displaying his posters outside their offices. They were forewarned by the Tampa FHP offices of his expected arrival and actions.
After 45 minutes, Moore cancelled his trip to Brooksville and instead left for his Spring Hill home.
The civic activist concluded that by happenstance his lone effort "made a bigger impact than he had expected." And that the effort was also simultaneous to the ICE protests in Los Angeles, California (his home state).
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[The poster listed lines like "stop helping ICE," "state police are not federal thugs," "stop targeting Hispanics," "stop defying courts," "stop obeying partisan and autocratic rule [DeSantis]!" And the last line declared, " the Florida Highway Patrol is now a 'state within a state' like the NAZI SS!".]
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