Bomb threat shuts down Los Angeles schools

New York City schools received “almost exactly the same” threat as the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on Tuesday, yet decided the threat was not credible enough to close schools, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton announced at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

Authorities in New York City said they received the same threat but quickly concluded that it was a hoax.

All school buses in the city were ordered to return to the bus yards, and parents were directed not to take their children to school.

Speaking to reporters, Superintendent Ramon Cortines said parents were notified and students were sent home following the “credible threat”.

“I think the circumstances in neighboring San Bernardino, I think what has happened in the nation, I think what happened internationally-I, as superintendent, am not going to take the chance with the life of a student”, he said.

City officials said the internet outage, caused by a denial of service (DoS) attack and lasting about 20 minutes, had no specific connection to the Los Angeles school threats.

Cortines cited growing concern over terrorism threats after deadly attacks in California, Paris, and elsewhere in his decision to shut down the school system.

Elements of the email threat appeared to mirror recent episodes of the Showtime series “Homeland”, Bratton reportedly said at the press conference. Cortines said the school district would release further information later on Tuesday.

Beck said the L.A. polic worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to vet the message “as best as possible”.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the threat – an email – was directed at a school board member Monday evening.

“I know the kids are anxious”, she said. She’s concerned about her daughter feeling safe in class. The district includes 640,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and more than 900 schools and 187 public charter schools. He said students would not return to class until every campus had been searched and he had received a report from the school board certifying that they are safe. Burbank, Torrance, El Segundo and Palos Verdes Peninsula unified school districts said they are aware of the LAUSD closure but it is not impacting their schools’ operations. The district spans 720 square miles including Los Angeles and all or part of more than 30 smaller cities and some unincorporated areas.