Los Angeles schools closed by ‘credible threat’ of violence

“We’re doing everything we can to ensure that we conduct a thorough investigation into that threat, and we’ll be working with the school district, as well as with the FBI”.

But Garcetti cautioned it was too early to draw conclusions.

In Los Angeles’s case, the answer seems to have been influenced heavily by the December 2 terror attack in nearby San Bernardino, Calif. Call it the “Brussels effect”.

Officials in LA defended the move to shut schools, with that city’s police chief dismissing the criticism as “irresponsible”.

Later in the day, he conceded that the threat was not credible.

“It was not to one school, two schools or three schools”, he said at a news conference.

“It’s due to circumstances in neighboring San Bernardino … Probably not”, writes Danny Davis, a professor of homeland security at Texas A&M University in College Station, in an e-mail to the Monitor. Southern California has been through a lot in recent weeks.

L.A. Unified School District police officers will wear uniforms for the rest of the week, said their chief, Steven Zipperman.

“I have the power, as superintendent, in emergencies, to recommend that the district be made whole”, he said.

“The back-and-forth between NY and Los Angeles”.

“The fact that people are taking automatic weapons and bombs into schools, those kinds of things, I think it’s what’s changed the ball game and it’s happening with more frequency”, said Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth. “Los Angeles might make their decision based on different factors than NY and that would be the case throughout the country”. Perhaps, even worldwide ones.

In both cases, officials said the emails appeared connected to a server overseas and the copy of the Los Angeles email identified the email hosting service.

“I am a devout Muslim, and was once against violence, but I have teamed up with a local jihadist cell as it is the only way I’ll be able to accomplish my massacre the correct way”, the email said.

Part of that involves working with local police who are the first ones called when a threat is made. The announcement came after the LAUSD ordered all its campuses shut down and searched in response to an electronic threat. More than 1,500 schools were affected. In addition, the email said they would use Kalashnikov rifles, Glock 18 machine pistols, grenades, and nerve gas in the attack.

“The text of the email does not demonstrate that the author has studied Islam or has any particular understanding of Islam”, Sherman said. “No longer was it something they just had to hear about on the news – now they had to scramble to make alternative arrangements for their kids”. That’s why we all should support that decision.

“You see, my last 4 years here at one of the district high schools has been absolute hell”, the email read.

Cortines, who made the decision to close all the schools, was not informed about the threat until 5 a.m. Tuesday, seven hours after the LAPD learned the news. “He’s heard of snow days on the East Coast”. “I can’t afford to miss a day”.

“We can not allow ourselves to raise levels of fear”, said Bratton, who once ran the Los Angeles Police Department.