Schools in Los Angeles closed after ‘credible threat’

Congressman Adam Schiff of Burbank agreed, saying: “The preliminary assessment is that it was a hoax or something created to disrupt school districts in large cities”.

A government official told Fox News the Los Angeles email also described a bomb in a backpack and other packages in the schools.

Against the backdrop of the San Bernardino attack, it’s “just human nature” for LA authorities to be more cautious, Tama said. Parents scrambled for last-minute day care or called in sick at work, while students suddenly found themselves with a day off – during final exams week, no less. It was many schools, not specifically identified. “I think it’s irresponsible, based on facts that have yet to be determined, to criticize that decision [to close the schools] at this point”. “I, as superintendent, am not going to take the chance with the life of students”.

Pupils “at every school in the New York City school district will be massacred, mercilessly”.

This post will be updated as more information becomes available. “But I guess it’s better safe than sorry”.

Some buses and trains in Los Angeles were free to school kids who would otherwise have been in class. Museums waived entry fees, parks extended their hours, all that at the urging of the mayor. “It will be safe for our children to return to schools tomorrow”. Then there’s the matter of getting students to and from school as efficiently as possible.

Mr Cortines ordered every campus to be thoroughly searched and a report given to him and the school board that they are safe. Some students and staff had already arrived.

“We can not allow ourselves to raise levels of fear”, Bratton said. It is one that school district officials around the country have weighed heavily in the wake of school shootings and threats. That’s the reason I took the action that I did…

“We checked with our local school district here to make sure they had not received any similar threats, and they told us they had not”, said Garry Carruesco, Bakersfield Police Department.

The threat was also made to New York City – which dismissed the warning as an amateurish hoax. “We believe the email originated overseas”.

But the mayor there, Bill de Blasio, says it was deemed a hoax. “So outlandish. And posed to numerous school systems simultaneously”.

A police officer puts up yellow tape to close the school outside of Edward Roybal High School in Los Angeles, on Tuesday morning, December 15, 2015.

Cortines alluded to both the San Bernardino attack as well as “international” events.

Parents were asked not to bring their students to school. The threat came via an electronic message, Mr Cortines said. “The California Department of Education stands ready to assist school districts in enhancing and improving their safety plans”. Our community… has been through a lot in recent weeks.

“An abundance of caution is something that all of us who have children appreciate”, Garcetti said.