The threat that prompted the Los Angeles Unified School District to shut down its schools on Tuesday involved explosive devices, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said during a press conference.
According to Beck, the email containing the threat “was very specific to Los Angeles Unified School District campuses and it involved all of them.”
Beck told reporters that the implied threat involved explosive devices, while the specific threat was attack with assault rifles and machine pistols.
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti added that the threats indicated violence and weapons, and that “things were already in place to bring that violence about.”
While the email threat was traced back to an IP address based in Germany, Beck noted that the investigation suggests that the threat actually originated from a place “much closer than Germany.”
Garcetti noted that no parochial schools or universities in Southern California had been threatened.
The LAUSD campuses are currently undergoing a walk-through to determine what if any threat currently exists.
Both Garcetti and Beck defended the decision to close the schools, which affects about 640,000 students.
“It is very easy for people to jump to conclusions … but decisions need to be made in a matter of minutes,” Garcetti said.
Added Beck, “These are very high stakes; we’re not making decisions about the color of a car or where we’re going to meet for dinner.”
Even so, Beck added that, for the moment, “I will not characterize this as credible or not.”