Al Shami concert canceled after bomb threat, arrest despite promoter's warnings to law enforcement

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A sold-out concert on Chicago's Northwest Side last week was canceled after a woman was arrested in a fake bomb plot at the theater, despite the concert promoter telling the ABC7 I-Team he tried to warn law enforcement about threats he had received for weeks.

The case is now focusing attention on what the concert promoter says is a lengthy social media threat campaign against Middle Eastern businesses across the Chicago-area, and country.

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At the Patio Theater on West Irving Park Road on Dec. 6, fans were expecting to attend a sold-out show by Syrian pop music singer Al Shami. But the show did not go on.

Hours before the concert was set to begin, Chicago police were called after a theater employee said a woman "walked inside the Patio Theater holding a box in her hands, walked up to the [employee], and related not verbatim, 'This is a bomb,'" according to a copy of the police report obtained by the I-Team. That woman was later identified by theater employees to police as 35-year-old Joanna Aguilar.

After the theater was evacuated, and the concert was canceled, Chicago police determined the suspicious package was not a bomb.

Aguilar was arrested and is now facing several charges including a felony count of making a false bomb threat.

The fake bomb threat comes after the owner of one of the concert promoters, Thaer Jbara of Al Keif Entertainment, said the event had been threatened online for at least six weeks.

"We cannot move the concert to another place, so [the threat actors] know what they are doing," Jbara told the I-Team. "They don't want any Middle Eastern to do any concert or wedding or celebrate anything."

Jbara said many accounts on TikTok and YouTube have posted videos urging followers to boycott the concert, and in some cases, the videos included threats of violence, including bombing the venue.

The motivation behind the threats, Jbara said, is to target successful American business owners who are of Middle Eastern descent, and who the threat actors claim do not follow a strict religious doctrine.

In one of the TikTok videos Jbara shared with the I-Team, a person referencing the Al Shami concert on Dec. 6 said in Arabic, "They need someone to burn the hall, I swear that's the best thing. While the concert is going on, to light the fire on all of them."

While some of the TikTok accounts that have posted previous threats have been taken down, Jbara said new accounts emerge.

In the weeks leading up to the Al Shami concert, Jbara said he contacted law enforcement, including the FBI, in hopes that agents or police would intervene and address the threats, but he said no action was taken.

According to a complaint submitted to the FBI on Nov. 11, Jbara wrote, "The [TikTok] threats include intentions to bomb the venue, kill attendees, burn cars, and vandalize or destroy the property."

The I-Team contacted the Chicago FBI office and in a statement, a spokesperson reiterated what Jbara said an FBI agent told him: That after reviewing the videos online, they found no evidence of a credible threat.

"The FBI is aware of reports of the alleged threats," a spokesperson for the Chicago FBI office told the I-Team on Wednesday. "While we take all threats seriously, we do not have specific and credible information of an attack at this time. We have, however, made the proper notifications as we continue to work closely with our law enforcement and private sector partners to keep our community safe."

An American citizen for 17 years after moving to Chicago from Jordan, Jbara said that he lost $150,000 after canceling the Al Shami show.

He fears for other Chicago businesses owned by Americans of Middle-Eastern descent that have also been named in recent threats, some with similar violent language, and he hopes law enforcement will take their concerns and reports seriously.

"We need help, especially Middle Eastern [business owners], they need help," Jbara said. "These people, they think we are traitors... This is not going to stop."