On Sunday, the University of Southern California initiated an hours-long investigation after an alleged bomb threat that was directed at campus libraries, which resulted in the evacuation of the Leavey and Doheny Memorial Libraries and the warning of the masses not to enter the impacted areas until police finished all of their search operations.
Campus-wide alert comes as a result of an email threat
On Sunday, an alleged bomb threat caused a full-scale, several-hour investigation at USC, according to FOX LA. Before the University of Southern California declared campus safe, on social media, at around 2:45 p.m. on September 7, the campus cautioned people to avoid Leavey and Doheny Memorial libraries.
Early warning was at 2.45 p.m. The university claimed in a post on X that there was a bomb threat, which was reported at Leavey and Doheny Memorial Libraries on University Park Campus. Keep out of the neighborhood, as the ABC7 news article of the incident claims.
The Department of Public Safety Chief of USC, David Carlisle, informed that an employee was informed via email that there was a bomb in the Leavey Library or Doheny Library of the campus. He declared that the origin of the email was not known. The menacing email immediately triggered campus security and local law enforcement agencies to coordinate in order to maintain the safety of students and staff.
LAPD conducts a thorough search operation
The Department of Public Safety of USC has reported to the LAPD, which has assumed the investigation. To prevent any risk, both libraries are being searched and evacuated. At 3:55 p.m., DPS released an alert to students that urged students to remain off the premises during the ongoing investigation of the bomb threats, Carlisle said in a statement.
Before 5 p.m., in an update, USC announced the Los Angeles Police Department had ended its search of both the Leavey and Doheny libraries, and that they were safe. Both libraries will be closed till Monday morning as a precaution. The school subsequently claimed to have ended the search a little after 5 p.m. On Sunday night, it is still unclear who placed the actions of fake threats.
Increased alarm about the hoax activities on campuses
According to an intelligence report, in an ABC News report dated Aug. 27, almost a dozen school shooting hoaxes have been reported in universities across the nation in the last week, at least 10 of which were linked to a single group, according to the report. Although these specific hoaxes, also called swatting calls, turned out to be a false alarm, experts point out that such kinds of hoaxes can be not only a serious crime with severe penalties imposed on perpetrators, but also endanger the lives of first responders and bystanders.
Serious consequences for perpetrators
Swatting is no harmless activity. The police are taking it seriously… when they are found, they are arresting and prosecuting them, said John Cohen, an ABC News contributor and former acting undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security. The USC bomb threat is not known in nature. The case is a continuation of the trend of such hoax threats to educational institutions in the United States, which underscores the current insecurity challenge experienced by universities and the legal repercussions awaiting the perpetrator(s) of the false threats.
The investigation of the USC bomb threat ended in a safe manner with the absence of any explosives, yet the case highlights the extreme disruption and resource allocation that is needed in case of a response to a threat of this nature. Although both libraries were declared secure and will resume on Monday morning, the unidentified assailant is still unknown, and this is why campus security vigilance is still on.