OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An apparently coordinated effort saw bomb and shooter threats sent to schools and businesses across Omaha on Friday morning, forcing some schools into lockdown and leading at least one business to evacuate its headquarters.
Omaha police spokesman, Lt. Neal Bonacci, said Friday that the threats did not appear to be credible. He did not have an estimate on how many schools and businesses received the threats.
“But it seems like it was a pretty blanketed threat across the city,” Bonacci said.
Elkhorn Public Schools sent a message Friday morning to parents announcing districtwide lockdowns in the wake of the threat. The lockdown was soon lifted after district officials determined the threat was not credible and had come from “an out-of-state source.”
Union Pacific’s high-rise headquarters in downtown Omaha was evacuated and its employees sent home for the day following the threat.
Despite the lack of credibility, Bonacci said, police were taking the threats seriously. In a Twitter post Friday, police encouraged those who receive a threat to report it to 911 for follow-up.
The mass threats were reminiscent of a nationwide hoax carried out in December 2018, when bomb threats were emailed to universities, businesses, schools and news organizations coast to coast that sent police departments across the country scrambling to respond. No explosives were found as part of that hoax.
