The author of the email bomb threat that sparked the controversial shutdown of the entire Los Angeles Unified School District Tuesday identified himself or herself as an “extremist Muslim” allied with “local jihadists,” according to a Southern California member of Congress.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, said he has reviewed the threatening email sent to the school district and the author “claims to be an extremist Muslim who has teamed up with local jihadists.”
But Sherman cautioned that the self-identity could be false, and the author may have had some other motive in sending the threat.
“We do not know whether these claims are true or a lie,” he said. “We do not know whether this email is from a devout Muslim who supports jihadists or perhaps a non-Muslim with a different agenda.
“The email makes relatively specific and wide-ranging threats to Los Angeles schools. We do not know whether some or all of the threats are truthful.”
Sherman said the email referenced bombs or possible nerve agents and suggested there were about 32 people involved in possibly planting the devices.
“The text of the email does not demonstrate that the author has studied Islam or has any particular understanding of Islam,” Sherman said.
As all of the more than 900 schools in the district finished closing and the more than 700,000 students were sent away from their campuses, there were some questions raised about local reaction to the threat.
According to media reports out of New York, that city’s school district received the same email threat that prompted the closure of LAUSD schools, but New York officials did not deem the threat to be credible, and campuses there are remaining open. Former LAPD Chief William Bratton, now the police commissioner in New York, said the LAUSD shutdown may have been a “significant overreaction.”.
Although no specifics of the threat have been released, Bratton told reporters in New York that the threat officials received there mentioned “Allah,” but the word wasn’t capitalized — providing a clue that the threat might be a hoax.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said, however, the email received in Los Angeles contained very specific threats aimed at the LAUSD. He had strong words for anyone who might criticize LAUSD schools chief Ramon Cortines for deciding to close the schools, saying the “safety of our children” is the highest of priorities.
“These are very high stakes,” Beck said.
The potential controversy reached Washington, D.C. Tuesday, when the presidential press secretary was asked at a regularly scheduled news conference about the shutdown. He said the White House would not second-guess local school district officials.
Those Los Angeles officials earlier said they made the closure decision after the threats came in last night out of an “abundance of caution.”
— Staff and wire reports