Four Delaware schools and at least one Pennsylvania district joined a growing list of schools around the northeastern United States that dealt with threats Tuesday. In these cases, each school received a threat from a robotic-sounding voice, said Delaware State Police.
Police evacuated Long Neck Elementary School in Millsboro; Silverlake Elementary School in Middletown; and Woodbridge High School in Greenwood so that officers and K-9 units could investigate threats.
The Appoquinimink School District alerted parents at Silverlake that the school received a robo-call threat this morning and that students were evacuated on school buses. "The situation is under control, and students are safe and well cared for," said superintendent Matthew Burrows. "As soon as we receive appropriate reassurances, we will re-enter the building."
None of the searches turned anything up, said police.
Long Neck called it a low-level lockdown and planned to return students to the classroom after police said caller threatened to "do harm to the students and faculty." Woodbridge said that it was a teacher in-service day so no students were at the school.
Rehoboth Elementary School in Rehoboth Beach also received a threat from a "coward," said state Sen. Ernesto Lopez (R-6th District). "Let me make something perfectly clear to those who continue to try to instill fear into moms and dads, grandparents and our community as a whole: your actions are despicable and when you are discovered you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said Lopez.
A threat also put the Chichester School District in Delaware County, Pennsylvania on alert. The district asked parents NOT to pick up their children as police investigated the threat while students evacuated.
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At least nine schools in North Jersey received threats that included bomb threats and mass shooting threats, reported NBC New York.
Threats also caused concern at some Massachusetts schools, said police.
Investigators worked to determine if the threats are connected.