Report: Persons of interest ID'd following bomb threats at dozens of HBCUs
Bethune-Cookman University sign. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON - More than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities have faced bomb threats this week as Black History Month begins.
Among those was Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach.
The FBI is investigating the situation and identified six people, all of whom are juveniles, as persons of interest, according to NBC Washington.
"This investigation is of the highest priority for the Bureau and involves more than 20 FBI field offices across the country. These threats are being investigated as racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism and hate crimes," read a statement from the FBI released on Wednesday. "We are working closely with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners; coordinating with the targeted institutions; and meeting with academia and faith leaders to share information."
Other schools that received bomb threats as of Wednesday include Coppin State University, Alcorn State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Morgan State University, Jackson State University, Tougaloo College, Kentucky State University, Fort Valley State University, Howard University, Spelman College, Xavier University, University of the District of Columbia, Edward Waters University, Rust College.
There are 107 HBCUs across the country.
"The threats are despicable," Mary Schmidt Campbell, president of Spelman College in Atlanta, said in an email to students and staff on Tuesday. "They are designed to make us feel fearful and vulnerable."
All the threats began this week, including against Howard University on Monday, before the official start of Black History Month. It was the third bomb threat Howard has received so far this year.
RELATED: Police: All-clear after bomb threat cancels classes at Bethune-Cookman University
Classes at Bethune-Cookman University were canceled on Monday following a bomb threat that prompted a lockdown. Many of the schools issued "all clear" messages to their communities by Tuesday afternoon.
"The Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD) is working with various law enforcement agencies – including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – as investigators look into threats made across the United States," the DBPD wrote in a news release sent to FOX 35 News.
The onslaught of threats has left students and parents worried about their well-being, saying they are "feeling targeted."
"It doesn’t seem like a prank, and myself along with other peers are feeling targeted," Anieya Green, a 19-year-old student at Xavier University, told the New York Times.
"It feels like an assault. It feels like someone has come in and trespassed against a very sacred space," HBCU parent Dana Perry told Fox 13.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki addressed the threats on Tuesday, calling them "disturbing."
"It is scary, it is horrifying, it is terrible that these students, these faculty, these institutions are feeling under threat," she said.
Psaki added that the administration wants students and leaders of the colleges to know "that we are standing with them as they face these threats."
Some information taken from FoxNews.com.
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