Gun and bomb attack threat closes Los Angeles schools in likely hoax

Officials say it was a tough decision but the safety of students and employees was their main concern.

LOS ANGELES (Sinclair Broadcast Group) – The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was shut down Tuesday after it received an “unspecified threat”, police said.

Following New York’s decision, Mayor Bill de Blasio said “it’s important, very important not to overreact in situations like this”.

– From Associated Press writer Tami Abdollah in Washington, D.C.

In Torrance, officials reported that schools in that city would be open. Outside Hillcrest Elementary in South Los Angeles, Laverne Carter said she just felt relieved to be taking her two grandkids home for the day.

“It was so outlandish”, he said.

He said the threat was sent to multiple HISD email accounts of administrators.

But on Tuesday, I saw evidence for hope, too; one of the paradoxical effects of a crisis is often the way it can bring people together and make us more aware of our interdependence.

A voice message from the LA Unified School District said: “As a result of a threat received the superintendent has directed all schools to be closed today”.

Alexis Prescott, a marriage and family therapy intern, said she tried to explain to her two children, Chase, 11, and Chance, 8, why school was canceled in a way that was both honest and non-alarming. They are pressure cooker bombs, hidden in backpacks around the schools.

LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines said the San Bernardino attack that left 14 people dead influenced his decision to cancel classes. The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation, spoke on condition of anonymity.

California has been stunned by the massacre in San Bernardino, about an hour east of Los Angeles, carried out by US-born Syed Farook and his Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools also received a threat late Wednesday, according to a statement on the district’s website.

The email was allegedly written by someone who claimed to have been bullied at “one of the district high schools” – the school was not identified.

With the San Bernardino attack so fresh, school officials “did what they were supposed to do”, Vasquez said.

“I always tell them to be kind”, she said, “and not to get defensive and be angry”.

“To disrupt the daily school schedules of half a million school children – their parents, daycare, buses – based on an anonymous email with no consultation – if in fact consultation did not occur with law enforcement authorities – I think it was a significant overreaction”, he said, according to the Daily News.

LAPD officers in uniform will be walking the hallways and classrooms Wednesday to “ease the transition”, Police Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday night. The LAUSD student was struck by an L.A. city street services truck while crossing a street.

Officials in California have defended the closure, and so did some parents.

Beyond targeting different school districts, the emails do show some small differences, however.

LAUSD serves more than 664, 000 youths in grades K-12 and 255,000 adult students in more than 1,200 schools and centers.