Early this week, dozens of schools found themselves on high alert after receiving bomb threats. Once the bomb threats came in, the schools had mass evacuations. In addition to the school’s receiving threats, several synagogues around the state also were threatened. Due to the nature of the threats, in terms of the sheer quantity of threatened victims, the FBI got involved from the FBI’s Denver field office.
The FBI is working with local sheriff’s departments as well to find the source of the threats.
According to statements released by the Kiowa County Sheriff’s Office, the threats had been emailed to the schools. Upon deeper investigation, they discovered that emails sent to over 40 schools across Colorado were all identical. Given that they did not want to run the risk of an assumed false threat not actually being false, authorities were immediately called and on the scene to evacuate all students and staff safely and quickly.
Once the news was confirmed of the more than 4o identical threats, authorities cleared schools to return in session. They have now ruled that there is no active threat, but the FBI and Sheriff’s Department are still working together to find the person and/or group of people behind the threats.
The threat receival and reaction for the synagogues was quite like how it was for schools.
One synagogue, Har HaShem in Boulder, Colorado received the threat and contacted authorities. The authorities arrived on the scene and evacuated the premises as well, until it was ruled as a fictitious threat.
This is not the first time Colorado schools have been the victim of mass threats. Last year, schools around the state were receiving threats of attack by phone. In this instance, a person would call local authorities and threaten a school shooting, claiming they would enter school grounds with a rifle and a pipe bomb.
Luckily, with the joint work of the Sheriffs and the FBI, the threats were able to be eased quite quickly. While investigations are still underway to find the responsible parties, they safely put residents at ease knowing they take these threats seriously no matter what the circumstances are.
