NASHUA, N.H. — Schools in this city on the Massachusetts border were ordered closed today after “a detailed threat of violence to harm students and staff” was emailed to a principal, officials said, prompting an FBI investigation that comes amid heightened tensions after a similar threat shut down Los Angeles schools last week.
“It was a specific threat of violence that was
directed towards the two high schools ... it was specific for a place and a time,” Nashua police Lt. Kerry Baxter told the Herald last night. “We are working with some other state and federal law enforcement partners to try and backtrack this and
determine the credibility of the threat.”
The threat, which police declined to specify, was emailed to a Nashua school principal who happened to be checking his work email yesterday, and police were soon notified, Baxter said. Officials declined to identify the principal, but said he was not a principal at one of Nashua’s two high schools.
Asked if police know who sent the email, Baxter said, “We’re looking into several different aspects of the incident.” She said the FBI is
assisting the investigation.
Nashua Superintendent Mark Conrad told the Herald last night it was a “difficult decision” to close all 17 schools with 11,400 students, but said the emailed threat specifically mentioned how “they would bring about violence on our students,” so he decided to err on the side of caution.
“They were very specific in saying it would occur
tomorrow. They talked about how they would bring about violence on our students,” Conrad said. “And so, given that level of detail and the fact that working with our police department, we weren’t able to say it was not a credible threat, we decided to err on the side of caution and close all of our schools.”
Emailed threats last week to Los Angeles and New York schools prompted LA to shut down for a day, holding some 640,000 students out of classes, while New York stayed open. Authorities said that email appeared to be a hoax and wasn’t credible.
“I think that speaks to the difficulty of these decisions. ... Each district has to make its own decision. We make the best decision we can with all the information in front of us,” Conrad said.
Conrad said he expects the schools to reopen tomorrow.
“It’s definitely a tightrope,” Baxter said. “We have to keep in mind the safety of everybody involved — students, teachers, other workers in the buildings. It’s a tough decision to make. These seem to be going on throughout the country. They seem to be happening more frequently and they’re very disruptive on many different levels.”
Gov. Maggie Hassan
issued a statement last night saying state police and emergency management officials are working closely with Nashua police and the FBI.
“Public safety is any government’s most important responsibility — especially at our schools — and we are closely monitoring the situation in Nashua,” Hassan said. “We will continue to monitor the situation and work together at the state, local and federal levels to investigate the threat and keep our communities safe.”
