The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that the bomb threat that led to the closure of Los Angeles schools appears to have been a hoax.
“While we continue to gather information about the threat made against the Los Angeles and New York School Departments, the preliminary assessment is that it was a hoax or something designed to disrupt school districts in large cities,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
The Los Angeles-based congressman said the investigation is ongoing and officials are still determining who made the threat.
On Tuesday morning, the New York and Los Angeles school districts were threatened with attacks involving guns and explosives.
New York officials dismissed it as a hoax, but L.A. shut down more than 900 public school and 187 charter schools.
“In an environment in which it is very easy to transmit threats, real and otherwise, and when fear and disruption may be the goal as well as the effect, communities and law enforcement will need to make a difficult judgment as to how to respond in a variety of circumstances,” Schiff said, praising leaders within his district for proactively moving to protect residents.
The congressman has urged intelligence and federal law enforcement officials to share information with each other as soon as possible to help quickly assess threats.
The investigation into LAUSD threat is still ongoing. Preliminary assessment is it was a hoax to disrupt school districts in large cities.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 15, 2015
