CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – More than 30 school districts in Florida received false bomb threat alerts Tuesday as part of a “swatting” email thread, according to Citrus County Police.
The Citrus County School District issued a message Tuesday night from Citrus Schools Police Chief Rachel Montgomery alerting parents to the situation.
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Montgomery said the district was one of at least 46 schools to receive the same email containing a false report of a bomb threat. The emails did not include specific details or direct threats against individual school campuses, authorities said.
“There is no indication that this is a credible threat to our school,” Montgomery said. “We wanted to inform parents directly to prevent the spread of rumors and misinformation.”
Local and state law enforcement agencies were working to investigate the matter Tuesday, and Citrus County officials announced that schools would remain open and operating on a normal schedule.
The Highlands County Board of Education also commented on the matter Tuesday night, writing that the hoax bomb threats were similar to those sent across the state in the past.
“This is a general threat sent to numerous superintendents and employees across the state of Florida and is not unique to Highlands County,” the school board said. “We do not believe this threat is credible at all.”
No further information was immediately available.
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