Historically Black US colleges receive bomb threats

Eight historically Black colleges and universities have received such threats, but no suspicious packages or explosives were found.

Classes at Southern University and A&M College were canceled and students were to remain in their dorm rooms until an all-clear was issued.
Reuters

Classes at Southern University and A&M College were canceled and students were to remain in their dorm rooms until an all-clear was issued.

Several historically Black colleges and universities in the United States have received bomb threats, forcing schools to issue shelter-in-place orders while cancelling classes and operations for the day. 

Albany State University in Georgia, Delaware State University in Delaware, Southern University and A&M College in Louisiana, Howard University in Washington, and Bowie State University in Maryland were among the schools that received threats.

"Due to an emergency on campus, classes will meet virtually. Persons on campus should shelter in place until further notice," Bowie State University said in a message on the school's website.

Delaware State University said it had told employees and students not to come to campus until further notice. 

"We've instructed our residential population to remain in the dormitory while a search of the campus is taking place, and that is ongoing at this point", a university spokesman said.

It was the second time this month that Black colleges and universities faced bomb threats. On January 5, eight historically Black colleges and universities received such threats, but no suspicious packages or explosives were found.

READ MORE: Adding fuel to the fire: white supremacy as domestic terrorism in the US

Investigating bomb threats

Federal and local authorities were investigating the incidents. Tom Chittum, the acting deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) confirmed on Monday that the agency was on the scene to investigate bomb threats at the schools.

"It is a federal crime to use interstate facilities to make a bomb threat," he told reporters in a call. "ATF will provide our investigative expertise and support to that investigation. But obviously the facts are preliminary."

Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, was placed on lockdown Monday morning, the Daytona Beach Police Department said, after a bomb threat was reported. Police were at the campus and said they will release more information later on Monday.

The District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department said that at Howard University the "scene was cleared without any hazardous materials being found" after a threat was reported earlier.

Southern University and A&M College said on its website that classes were canceled and students were to remain in their dorm rooms until an all-clear was issued.

READ MORE: After George Floyd: A year that shook the world

Route 6