A threatening email tied to bomb threats received by schools in Europe last week forced the shut down of several schools in Los Angeles County Monday but was deemed by authorities as not credible.
Damien High School in La Verne was evacuated and school was canceled for the remainder of the day, according to a tweet by the La Verne Police Department.
Several other schools across the county also closed for the day, according to law enforcement officials.
“This morning a few of our Catholic schools along with other non-Catholic schools received a spam email [threatening] school safety,” the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said in a statement.
Details about the threats to the schools and the number of students evacuated were not disclosed by authorities.
The email was similar to one “distributed to schools and institutions in Europe last week that was found to be not credible and meant to cause disruption, panic and fear,” according to the archdiocese.
Emailed bomb threats went out to schools last week in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, according to the Associated Press.
The emails were mostly written in Russian and came from a server within the European Union, Lithuania’s police chief, Renatas Pozela, said in a statement.
The statement said there was “no evidence of a credible threat at our schools.”
Law enforcement officials confirmed that a number of schools had been targeted and some closed Monday.
“Our major crimes unit is still investigating,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department spokesperson Deputy Brenda Serna.
As for the schools that did close, “that wasn’t under our direction,” she said. “That was their own discretion.”
Los Angeles Unified School District officials said Monday that they have received no threats and that schools in the district are operating normally.
In general, however, there has been heightened security awareness and inter-agency communication since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho said in an interview.
“We have not received any type of threat, credible or not, aimed or directed at our school system or any entity within our school system, or at our workforce or students,” Carvalho said.
“With that said, we have taken a number of preventive and protective measures, including greater level of collaboration with municipal police departments, including LAPD” and the” exchange of information, adjust protocols to readiness,” he said.
He added that additional security resources have been deployed around “schools close to certain cultural or religious centers.” In addition, “we have tested our communication systems.”
From a standpoint of instruction and emotional support, “we have sent out a lot of resources to schools to empower teachers with the ability to speak about the unspeakable to their students, a lot of resources also to the parents to try to explain the inexplicable.”
Parents also received messages from school principals last week indicating that all was well to that point, but that everyone should be watchful for potential threats.
Terry Castleman, Howard Blume
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