A Pico-Robertson high school was swept by police Wednesday evening after a rabbi there received a chilling voicemail claiming pipe bombs had been planted on campus and that someone carrying an AR-15 and wearing a suicide vest was inside. Officers methodically searched the grounds, ultimately clearing the scene without making any arrests. Investigators continued to work the case as neighborhood patrols were expected to ramp up the following day.
What LAPD says
The threat came in around 6:30 p.m., when a rabbi at Yeshiva University High School checked a voicemail, according to NBC Los Angeles. In the message, the caller claimed pipe bombs had been planted around the campus and that a person armed with an AR-15 and wearing a suicide vest was on site. The caller did not say where the supposed devices had been placed.
Officers swept the school for at least two hours while detectives worked to verify the claims. Authorities later said no arrests had been made in connection with the call and have not publicly identified any suspect.
Part of a larger pattern
Threats like this have become distressingly familiar for Jewish institutions across the country, which have faced a steady stream of bomb and shooting threats in recent years. The Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit reported that antisemitic incidents hit record levels last year, including hundreds of threats and bomb hoaxes against Jewish sites, according to the ADL.
Closer to home, Pico-Robertson has seen its own share of violence, including shootings in 2023 that were serious enough to draw in federal authorities, as detailed by the Jewish Journal.
About the campus
YULA, or the Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles, runs separate boys’ and girls’ campuses in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, serving students in grades 9 through 12, according to YULA. The schools sit in the middle of a dense, tight-knit Orthodox community.
Police told NBC Los Angeles they expected a heightened patrol presence near the campus the day after the threat while detectives followed leads. Officials have not publicly named a suspect.
Investigation ongoing
Authorities say the investigation remains active and that they will release more information if and when it becomes available. Parents and neighbors in Pico-Robertson, already accustomed to tighter security at schools and synagogues, say incidents like this one only reinforce why those measures are in place.
For now, police have not shared additional details about the caller or a possible motive, and the case remains open.
