Boston police spent Tuesday morning rushing between schools and college campuses across the city after bomb threats poured in at locations ranging from a downtown elementary school to Boston University. Officers were called to at least seven sites, and as of Tuesday afternoon, no injuries had been reported.
Police received reports about phone threats hitting several schools, spanning everything from elementary schools to colleges, according to WCVB. The threats were reported at locations in several neighborhoods across the city, as reported by Boston 25 News. Officers were sent to Josiah Quincy Elementary School at 885 Washington Street, Torit Montessori School at 300 Cambridge Street, Boston Latin Academy at 205 Townsend Street, and New England Conservatory at 255 St. Botolph Street, per the same station's reporting.
Colleges and Additional Schools Drawn Into the Scare
The station's report also named Blackstone Elementary, Samuel Adams and Boston University among the locations where officers were called. A building on Boston University's campus was evacuated after a reported bomb threat that university police identified as a hoax, according to Patch.
Boston police said no updates had come in regarding the credibility of the threats, and the department did not immediately provide additional information about what prompted the calls. Police did report, however, that no injuries had resulted from the scare. The lack of detail has left parents, students and staff across the affected neighborhoods with little beyond the knowledge that officers responded and that, for now, everyone is accounted for.
Part of a Statewide Pattern of Fake Threats
Tuesday's wave of calls follows months of similar disruptions across Massachusetts. The threats come as so-called swatting calls are increasing in school districts across the country, Boston 25 News has reported. Massachusetts State Police have continued investigating after dozens of school districts reported receiving threatening calls, and the agency said that, thus far, every call has been determined to be a hoax. The Massachusetts State Police Fusion Center is investigating the source or sources of the threats, according to the outlet's earlier coverage.
Law enforcement officials elsewhere have noted that swatting incidents often spark copycat calls nationwide, per WWLP. In Nashua, New Hampshire, police said multiple schools received the same robocall threat and that law enforcement determined it was not credible, according to NBC10 Boston. Tyngsborough police similarly said several schools in town received robocall threats to commit violence that were not believed to be credible, with that community and several New Hampshire towns planning increased police presence at local schools as a precaution.
Earlier Incidents Show a Recurring Problem
Those April incidents weren't isolated. A Massachusetts school received a violent threat via an automated robocall that April day, prompting Tyngsborough police to step up patrols, according to MassLive. Two Nashua schools had received bomb-threat robocalls the night before, with at least five more schools getting similar calls the next morning, the outlet reported.
Holyoke High School and Central High School were placed on lockdown earlier this year after receiving hoax threats of violence as part of a statewide swatting incident, per WWLP. Emergency responders determined there were no credible threats at either campus and reported all students and staff safe. Just last week, police presence at Fitchburg High School was increased as a precaution after a student reported overhearing a nonspecific threat, according to Boston.com.
No arrests or charges connected to Tuesday's Boston threats have been announced, and police have not said whether the calls at the seven locations are connected to one another or to the broader pattern of hoax threats investigators have been tracking statewide. This remains a developing story, and Hoodline will update as Boston police release more information.
