Venice High students evacuated as LAPD investigates threat to school
A threat “that raised concerns about the safety†of students and staff at Venice High School on Thursday prompted an evacuation and shut down traffic around the campus, school officials said.
The district became aware of statements made by a community member, Lt. Nina Buranasombati with the Los Angeles School Police Department said in a release. It’s unclear what statements were made or who made them, but school police reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department to conduct a thorough search of the campus in the 13000 block of Venice Boulevard in Mar Vista.
Students were briefly evacuated to the school’s football field while police looked into the threats, but by 2 p.m. the school had resumed normal operations and officials said all students and employees were safe.
Police said the threat was not credible, according to Buranasombati, and the LAPD is investigating the incident.
Venice Boulevard was closed by police during the investigation. School police conducted extra patrols around campus, officials said.
An email sent to schools 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.â€
“The Los Angeles Police Department has also been notified about these statements, and we remain in communication with our local law enforcement partners about important updates that impact our school community,†Buranasombati said.
“We take the safety and security of our students and our campus very seriously. All statements that raise concerns about the safety of our campus are immediately and thoroughly investigated by school administration, local law enforcement and district personnel to ensure the safety of our school community.â€
Anyone who witnesses behavior or statements threatening schools can be reported to campus officials or police, Buranasombati said. The school police dispatch center can be reached at (213) 625-6631.
The threat comes three days after several schools in Los Angeles County were shut down because of emails tied to bomb threats, which authorities later deemed as not credible.
On Monday, 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.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said a few Catholic schools, along with other non-Catholic schools, had received “a spam email [threatening] school safety.â€
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.
No Los Angeles Unified School District campuses were affected by Monday’s threats.
Times staff writers Terry Castleman and Howard Blume contributed to this report.
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