by Hailey Branson-Potts, Stephen Ceasar and Howard Blume |
LA Times | http://lat.ms/1k0IKIP
Dec 15, 2115 | 8:48 PM (updated)
:: L.A. Unified School District
officials say a threat came in electronic form and was made to numerous but
unspecified campuses. The threat was later determined to be not credible.
A crudely written email threat to members of the Los
Angeles Board of Education prompted officials to close all 900 schools in the
nation’s second-largest school system Tuesday, sending parents from San Pedro
to Pacoima scrambling to find day care — while New York law enforcement
dismissed a nearly identical threat from the same sender as an obvious hoax.
The unprecedented districtwide shutdown reflected the
tense atmosphere over possible terrorist attacks less than two weeks after two
Islamic radicals opened fire at a workplace party in San Bernardino, killing
14.
L.A. Unified School District Supt. Ramon Cortines said he
made the decision to order the school closures because he couldn’t take a
chance with the system’s 640,000 students.
By evening, school officials said they had inspected all
campuses and that the FBI had discredited the threat.
“We believe that our schools are safe and we can reopen
schools in Los Angeles Unified School District tomorrow morning,” school board
President Steve Zimmer said in an evening news conference.
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and Police Chief Charlie Beck
defended the decision to close the schools, saying investigators did not know
at the time whether the threat was legitimate.
“I think it’s irresponsible … to criticize that decision
at that point,” Beck said. “Southern California has been through a lot in the
past few weeks. Should we put our children through the same thing?”
He said the email included all Los Angeles Unified
schools and mentioned explosive devices, “assault rifles and machine pistols.”
“These are obviously things we take very seriously,” Beck
said.
The district called and texted parents early Tuesday
morning to alert them that schools would be closed — the first systemwide
closure since the Northridge earthquake in 1994.
Although the school district could technically be subject
to a loss of $29 million in per-pupil funding for closing campuses, state Supt.
of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said that he is certain the district would
not be docked those funds.
Alan Glasband, a substitute teacher at San Pedro High
School, said he and several other instructors had not received notifications.
He said he heard about the bomb threat through a text from a friend.
Another friend, he said, had driven from his home in
Norwalk to Orville Wright Middle School near Los Angeles International Airport
before he heard the news.
“I’m pretty distraught that they didn’t bother to tell
us,” Glasband said.
By midday, elected officials briefed by law enforcement
said the threat did not appear to be credible.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Los Angeles), a senior member of the
House Foreign Affairs committee, said the email lacked “the feel of the way the
jihadists usually write.”
Sherman said the roughly 350-word message did not
capitalize Allah in one instance, nor did it cite a Koranic verse. He said the
elements of the threatened attack also seemed unlikely, such as the claim that
it would involve 32 people with nerve gas.
“There isn’t a person on the street who couldn’t have
written this,” with a basic level of knowledge of Islam, Sherman said.
“Everybody in Nebraska could have written this.”
Still, he added, the person did have a knowledge of
Southern California, and the threat could not be immediately discredited.
“I don’t know whether this was sent by a radical Islamic
jihadist or somebody who had an anti-Islamic agenda or just a prankster,”
Sherman said.
The FBI is working to determine where the email
originated and who wrote it. Officials said it was routed through Germany but
probably came from somewhere closer.
District officials and law enforcement worked since at
least 10 p.m. Monday to decide how to respond to the email, police sources
said. Cortines, who is retiring from the school system, told The Times that he
was notified at 5 a.m.
All members of the Board of Education were alerted of the
threat in an email sent at about 3 a.m. from L.A. School Police Chief Steven K.
Zipperman, according to a district source.
One or more board members already were aware of the
threat, including Zimmer, who was a recipient of the email.
New York officials received the email at roughly the same
time, and with three hours less time to assess it, came to a sharply different
decision.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the threat was “so generic, so
outlandish” that it couldn’t be taken seriously.
“It would be a huge disservice to our nation to close
down our school system,” De Blasio said.
The mayor went so far as to suggest whoever wrote the
threat was a fan of the cable television show “Homeland.”
New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton said
“we cannot allow ourselves to raise levels of fear. Certainly raise levels of
awareness. But this is not a credible threat.”
Brian Levin, a former NYPD officer and director of the
Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, said
that while “it makes sense to err on the side of safety,” there is a drawback
in doing so.
“When a closure like this takes place, unfortunately it
will embolden others to try it again.”
At least one group largely celebrated the district
closure: students, many of whom were scheduled for final exams in this last
week of classes before winter break.
Alexis Diaz, a senior at Roosevelt High in Boyle Heights,
and his little brother glided by the deserted campus on hoverboards.
His cousin had called him early to tell him that school
was canceled. Diaz didn’t believe him, but he turned on the news and saw that
it was true.
“I thought, well, that’s good because I have finals,” he
said. “I was ready for the AP Spanish test, but not history.”
Michael Ramirez, 18, skateboarded down the middle of
Cypress Avenue in Northeast Los Angeles, popping wheelies and blasting music
into white ear buds.
He had been on the way to Lincoln High School when a
friend texted that there was no school.
“He said, ‘ISIS or something,’ “ Ramirez recalled.
“I’m kinda tired of hearing all this ISIS,” he said.
“It’s annoying. I’ve got finals. But I guess it’s good to take control. Better
safe than sorry.”
His plan for the unexpected day off: “Get with some
friends; maybe go hit downtown.”
Parents had to rush to find someone to watch younger
students, and coped with fears about terrorism that seemed a lot more realistic
since the attack in San Bernardino.
Sarah Nichols of Echo Park decided to keep her three
elementary school-age children with her for the day.
“I would prefer for them to be with me under the
circumstances,” Nichols said.
She didn't want to explain to them what terrorism was,
what kind of danger might have awaited. She just told them it “wasn't safe to
go to school today.”
“I didn't go into detail because I didn't want their
little minds to wonder,” she said.
Los Angeles Times staff writers Joe Mozingo, Ruben
Vives, Joseph Serna, Joy Resmovits, Bob Sipchen and Sarah Wire contributed to
this report.
UPDATES
8:48 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details
and reactions to the closures.
6:50 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from state
Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.
6:17 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Mayor
Eric Garcetti.
5:54 p.m.: This article was updated with information on the
reopening of schools.
4:49 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from San
Pedro High students.
3:09 p.m.: This article was updated with information about
companies accommodating parents.
2:54 p.m.: This article was updated with additional quotes
from LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.
2:19 p.m.: This article was updated with information about
when LAUSD Supt. Ramon Cortines was notified of the threat.
1:48 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from NYPD
Deputy Commissioner Stephen P. Davis.
1:24 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from
Councilman Paul Krekorian.
1:09 p.m. This article was updated throughout and with new
information that the threat appears to be a hoax.
12:12 p.m.: This article was updated throughout.
12:00 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from the
mayor of New York City.
11:34 a.m.: This article was updated with details that the
author of the email claimed to be an extremist Muslim.
11:01 a.m.: This article was updated throughout.
10:56 a.m.: This article was updated with information about
a 17-year-old boy who was struck and killed by a city service truck.
10:46 a.m.: This article was updated with information about
adjacent school districts.
10:30 a.m.: This article was updated with quotes from LAPD
Chief Charlie Beck.
10:23 a.m.: This article was updated with a quote from a law
enforcement source about the credibility of the threat.
9:57 a.m.: This article was updated throughout.
9:39 a.m.: This article was updated with information about
district officials.
9:34 a.m.: This article was updated to include information
about the email threat.
9:11 a.m.: This article was updated with quotes from the New
York City Police Commissioner.
9:00 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from a
terror expert.
8:24 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from
school and LAPD officials.
8:16 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from a
parent.
This article was originally published at 7:38 a.m.
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