Police: Similar threats closing schools in Washington surfacing across nation

BLAINE, Wash. — Law enforcement told Blaine School District officials that threats that caused the cancellation of classes at schools there Friday are similar to ones received by other Washington schools and schools across the nation.

Blaine 

Blaine School District officials said they received an email threat late Thursday that said some kind of action would be taken on Friday.

Though the authenticity of the threat has not been verified, officials decided to close all schools in the district.

District staff said they were told by police that there have been multiple threats of a similar nature surfacing in other areas of the state, as well as nationally, in the last 24 hours.

Law enforcement staff are in the process of reaching out to other jurisdictions in an attempt to further consider common threads, the district said.

Federal Way

In Federal Way, Illahee Middle School was the subject of a threat reported to be circulating on social media.

Though there is increased security at the school Friday, Federal Way police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock said investigators believe the credibility of the threat is "very low."

On Friday, Bremerton police officers were notified that there was a threat circulating on social media that was possibly directed at Bremerton High School.

The threat caused concern because it had the abbreviation “BHS” in it.  The school was closed as a precaution while police investigated.

Investigators later found that threat originated in New Mexico and that the suspect in the threat is now in custody.

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