Man experiencing homelessness accused of making threat at Miami Beach Jewish school
MIAMI - The fallout from the Israel-Hamas war has inspired a growing number of threats across the country and right here in South Florida.
On Tuesday, a man was arrested after he reportedly threatened a Jewish school in Miami Beach.
Alier Salas, who is experiencing homelessness, told a security guard at the school that he belonged to Hamas and had explosives.
"The security guard did exactly what we urge our public to do and that's if you see something, say something. We take matters like this extremely seriously, whether the defendant was joking or not we would do whatever it takes to protect our residents and community stakeholders and charge the individual accordingly," said Miami Beach police spokesman Christopher Bess.
Police detained Salas.
As a precaution, the school and the neighboring Beth Israel Congregation were placed on lockdown until police could investigate the alleged threat.
Salas is known to the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust.
"We strongly condemn the recent school threat made by a homeless individual named Alier Ojeda Salas, who claimed to be affiliated with Hamas. It is deeply unfortunate that a person, regardless of his circumstances, would seek to instill fear and panic within the Miami Beach community by exploiting international tragedies. The board of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust supports our partners at the Miami Beach Police Department for moving quickly to contain the situation and allow this community to live, work, and go to school without fear," said Ron Book, Chair of the Homeless Trust, in a statement.
