Catholic and non-catholic schools across Southern California closed early after receiving bomb threats, later found not credible. Bailey Miller reports for the NBC4 News on Oct. 16, 2023.
Several Southern California schools, including some Catholic ones, were closed Monday due to threats that were later determined to be not credible, authorities said.
Damien High School in the San Gabriel Valley community of La Verne was one of several school campuses to receive a similar threat. The school was evacuated Monday morning before classes were called off for the remainder of the day.
“Earlier this morning, the La Verne Police Department notified the Bonita Unified School District that Damien High School was being evacuated and closed for the remainder of the day in response to a threat against private schools in the area,” police said. “Following further investigation, the threat appears to have come from overseas and has been deemed not credible by LVPD."
Bonita Unified schools remained open.
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The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said the schools received a spam email threatening school safety. The email is similar to one received by schools and institutions in Europe last week that was determined to be not credible.
"This morning a few of our Catholic schools along with other non-Catholic schools received a spam email threating school safety that is similar to an email distributed to schools and institutions in Europe last week that was found to be not credible and meant to cause disruption, panic and fear," the Archdiocese said in a statement. "The schools that received the email cancelled classes for the day out of an abundance of caution while the matter was being investigated. The Archdiocese is working with law enforcement and there is no evidence of a credible threat at our schools. All Catholic schools in the Archdiocese have been asked to follow our usual safety protocols."
A school in Claremont and Catholic campuses in Compton and Lancaster were also targeted by the non-credible threats.
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