Internet threat closes 3 suburban New York schools

From Shannon Troetel
CNN New York Bureau

GREENBURGH, New York (CNN) -- Three schools in suburban New York were closed before they opened on Friday as a "precautionary measure" after a high school student received a threat over the Internet.

Two elementary schools and a high school in the Edgemont School District in Greenburgh, New York, were shut down while police investigated.

Lt. Vincent LoGiudice, a spokesman for the Greenburgh Police, said an Edgemont Junior-Senior High School student received a message in an AOL chat room threatening "an incident that would occur today at the high school."

LoGiudice would not comment on the nature of the threat or the identity of the student who received it. But he said police "didn't believe" the student who received the threat knew the person who sent it.

LoGiudice said Edgemont Superintendent Nancy Taddiken decided to shut down all three of Edgemont's schools -- the high school and K-6 elementary schools Greenville and Seely Place -- "as a precautionary measure" when she was told of the threat.

"In the beginning, we have to treat (threats) as potentially real," LoGiudice said. "The investigation will determine, based on the facts that we have, whether it's real or a hoax."

The Westchester County District Attorney's office was also involved in the investigation.

Attempts to reach Taddiken for a comment were unsuccessful.

At the Edgemont District office, a recorded telephone message said, "Good morning. All Edgemont schools are closed today, Friday, March 23rd, as a result of a districtwide emergency. All evening activities are also canceled."

A community Web site said the school district has about 1,500 students, 640 of them at the 7th- through 12th-grade junior-senior high school.

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Edgemont School District
Greenburgh Police Department
Westchester County District Attorney's Office

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