"Absolute hell": Contents of L.A. school threat email revealed
The email threat sent to members of the Los Angeles school board that prompted a city-wide school closure was lengthy and sometimes rambling, a law enforcement source told CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton.
The contents on the email were revealed after the nation's second-largest school district shut down Tuesday after school board members received the threat that raised fears of another attack like the deadly shooting in nearby San Bernardino, California.
The shutdown abruptly closed more than 900 public schools and 187 charter schools attended by 640,000 students across Los Angeles.
According to the law enforcement source, the excerpts of the email included:
- "Every school in Los Angeles school district is being targeted. We have bombs hidden in backpacks in lockers at several schools and they are strategically placed to crumble the foundations of the very buildings that monger so much hate..."
- "There are pressure cookers hidden in backpacks loaded with 20 pounds of gunpowder for maximum damage. They will detonate via cell phone."
- "My last four years here at one of the district high schools has been absolute hell."
- "I am Muslim and I've teamed up with a local jihadist cell. Me and my 32 comrades will die tomorrow."
- "The students in LA will be massacred mercilessly and there is nothing you can do to stop it."
- "We are the army of Allah. I wish you the best of luck. It's time to pray to Allah as this may be your last day."
The email was allegedly signed by "al-waleed Baghdadi."
The source said the email was routed from Germany but may have originated elsewhere.
Authorities in New York City said they received the same threat but quickly concluded that it was a hoax. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters that he was "absolutely convinced" there was no danger to schoolchildren in his city.
New York Police Commissioner William Bratton quipped that it looked like the sender of the threat had watched a lot of the Showtime terrorism drama "Homeland." He says the person claimed to be a jihadist, but made errors that indicated he was really a prankster. For one thing, "Allah" was spelled with a lower-case 'a'.
However,Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and Mayor Eric Garcetti told reporters Tuesday that they stand behind the superintendent's order to close the schools as a precaution.
"It is very easy in hindsight to criticize a decision based on results the decider could never have known," Beck said.