MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Bomb threats targeted Jewish community centers in several states, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether the threats were linked, authorities said Monday.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokeswoman Amanda Hils said in an email that the agency was aware of the threats and its field divisions were ready to assist state and local law enforcement.
Police said no explosives were found after bomb threats were received at the Miami Beach Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Community Alliance of Jacksonville.
According to The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/2janCAF), Miami-Dade Fire Rescue evacuated the Alper Jewish Community Center in Kendall, which had about 450 children and 70 adults in it at the time.
“As a community, we must always be vigilant when it comes to security,” the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s director of community security, Brenda Moxley, said in an email.
In Nashville, Tennessee, police responded to the Gordon Jewish Community Center after a security guard received a bomb threat over the phone.
No explosives were found, but 225 people in the building and an adjacent school were evacuated, said Mark Freedman, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee.
In Delaware, the Siegel Jewish Community Center in Wilmington was evacuated after a bomb threat was called in.
Buildings were evacuated and authorities investigated similar threats in Tenafly, New Jersey; Columbia, South Carolina; and Rockville, Maryland.
Last week, bomb threats targeted two Jewish centers in central Florida and two Jewish preschools in Tampa.
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Associated Press writers Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, and Randall Chase in Wilmington, Delaware, contributed to this report.
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