Leftist political candidate once threatened to blow up school bus, called children 'white cowards' as they fled: court docs

A political candidate in Washington once threatened to blow up a school bus full of children, and when the students attempted to flee the potentially deadly situation she called the kids "white cowards," according to court documents.

Ubax Gardheere is running for the King County Council in the Seattle area. Gardheere is the director of the Equitable Development Division in Seattle's Office of Planning and Community Development, which works with organizations on "anti-displacement efforts in high displacement risk neighborhoods, with a continued emphasis on serving BIPOC communities that have been targeted by systemic and institutional racism."

Gardheere labels herself as a community organizer "focused on policy and systemic healing." Gardheere, who calls herself a "bureactivist," says she has "extensive experience in social justice and transformative practices."

"She prioritizes working in community development and building an inclusive vision with many of Seattle's BIPOC, low-income, and working-class communities," her campaign website states. "She believes all humans deserve respect, safety, shelter, and economic opportunity."

However, Gardheere reportedly did not offer school children respect or safety years ago.

On Jan. 12, 2010, Gardheere allegedly boarded a school bus while it was transporting children to the Chinook Middle School. "Gardheere demanded the driver tell his dispatcher 'that a national security incident was going on,'" according to a new report from the Post Millennial.

Gardheere, who is a Somali immigrant, began yelling at the children about America's relationship with Somalia, according to police reports.

The school bus driver instructed Gardheere to exit the vehicle, but she retaliated by saying that she may have a bomb and a gun, the court docs say.

"You need to calm yourselves down 'cause I could have a bomb. Look how loose my clothes are," Gardheere said, according to an audio recording of the incident described in court documents.

"While speaking with the middle school students, the defendant stated that she might have a bomb and might have a gun," deputy prosecutor Gretchen Holmgren wrote to the King County court. "When students attempted to escape out the back of the bus, she called them cowards and told them they would be responsible if something happened to their classmates."

"Several students believed she had a weapon of some kind and many feared for their lives," Holmgren said.

Fox News reported, "The court documents also say at least one student heard her call the fleeing students 'white cowards.'"

Gardheere told an arresting officer that she was "prepared to die," according to a King County detective. Gardheere had no weapons in her possession at the time of her arrest.

Gardheere was hit with felony charges of kidnapping, but worked out a plea deal with prosecutors to get the felonies down to a misdemeanor.

A few weeks after she made veiled threats to bomb a middle school bus with children onboard, Gardheere gave an interview to Seattle Weekly. Gardheere told the paper that she was suffering from postpartum depression after the birth of her son three years earlier.

"She said her mental condition worsened after she stopped in Dubai to see in-laws on her way to visit Somalia in 2008," the article from January 2010 said. "Then, according to her account, she was nearly raped by someone at the house where she was staying–and beaten up by police when she tried to report the incident."

She told the publication, "I'm thinking in my head, 'What can I say or do that will get you taken to jail instead of a mental institute?'"

Now, Gardheere is running for the King County Council. Some of her political aspirations are to replace capitalism with "an economic system that is based on abundance and communal self-determination for communities of color and all people."

"Our current economic system requires hierarchy, oppression, and extraction to operate and maintain itself," Gardheere's campaign website states. "It divides people according to race, class, ableism, and gender, and often treats Black Indigenous People Of Color (BIPOC) people, people who identify as LGBTQ+, poor people, immigrants/refugees, undocumented immigrants and refugees, people living with disabilities, and the natural environment as expendable resources."

In a recent interview with the South Seattle Emerald, the leftist candidate said a "moderate Democrat" is "somebody that's adjusted to whiteness."

Gardheere has been endorsed by State Sen. Rebecca Saldana, a Democrat, who said, "I would follow Ubax anywhere."

Ubax Gardheere KCYD Endorsement Videowww.youtube.com