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Posted April 23, 2007.
Library Security Threats Follow Virginia Tech Shootings
In the aftermath of the mass shooting at Virginia Tech April 16, university campuses, schools, and libraries across the nation tightened security measures as a handful of threatening notes, e-mails, and calls created some false alarms. Incidents involving libraries included the following:
- Thousands of students and staff were evacuated from eight buildings at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, including the Walter Science and Engineering Library, after a typed note was found in Smith Hall, a chemistry building, April 18. The buildings remained closed and kept under surveillance overnight, and were reopened the next day, the Willmar West Central Tribune reported April 19.
- Police at the University of Maryland at College Park were alerted early April 19 to an e-mail stating that a bomb was “in a book in a library.” The campus newspaper The Diamondback said April 20 that the message did not specify which library, and police were uncertain if it meant a university library. No libraries were evacuated and police declined to identify the recipient of the e-mail, citing their ongoing investigation.
- Police searched the main library at the University of Texas at Austin April 20 after a threatening note was found. The Dallas Morning News said April 20 that although officials decided against ordering an evacuation, an announcement about the threat was made so people could leave if they wanted to. The note was the fifth found at Austin campuses since the Virginia Tech shootings.
- A series of bomb threats to the Edmonds Community College library in Lynnwood, Washington, was traced to a 16-year-old student who didn’t want to go to class. The campus was shut down for three hours April 19 while police searched the library for explosives. The boy told authorities he recruited a person in England to call in the threats, which referred to the Virginia Tech shootings, the Everett Daily Herald reported April 20.
- A media specialist at West Port High School in Ocala, Florida, found a handwritten note in a book drop April 18 stating that the writer was upset with 10th-grade teachers because they were “going to fail him.” The student claimed to have planted a bomb at the school and that a cousin had left one at another school, the Ocala Star-Banner said April 19.
- A 17-year-old junior at Merrill F. West High School in Tracy, California, was in custody after allegedly taping threatening notes at various places around the campus, including the library. Staff found the first note around 7:30 a.m. April 20 and the school went into lockdown about an hour later, the Tracy Press said April 21.
- Durham County (N.C.) Library’s Main Library was closed for two hours April 20 after a staff member received a telephoned bomb threat. The sheriff’s office combed the building with bomb-sniffing dogs and reopened it at 3 p.m., the Associated Press reported.
- A bomb scare closed the Longmont (Colo.) Public Library the afternoon of April 26, forcing the temporary evacuation of 60 patrons and staff. A Boulder County bomb squad removed a suspicious package found near the library’s mail-sorting area, but found it contained only plastic grocery bags, according to the April 27 Longmont Daily Times-Call.
Posted April 23, 2007; modified April 27, 2007.
