Bomb threats force evacuations at two Brooklyn yeshivas minutes apart; police find no explosives
Yeshivah of Flatbush's high school on Avenue J and United Talmudical Academy on Bedford Avenue got phoned-in threats Friday morning. Police called them unfounded and are investigating.
Photo: Morris Madeb / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School, at 1609 Avenue J, got a phoned-in bomb threat at about 9:54 a.m. Friday, the NYPD said.
- Six minutes later, United Talmudical Academy at 590 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg received a similar call. Both schools were evacuated.
- NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers and K-9 teams searched both buildings and found nothing. Police deemed the threats unfounded, and students returned to class.
- No injuries or arrests were reported, and the investigation is continuing, the NYPD told JNS.
- News 12 reported the calls followed three other bomb threats at schools earlier in the week.
Two Jewish schools in Brooklyn were evacuated Friday morning after bomb threats were phoned in six minutes apart. Police searched both buildings, found no explosives and later called the threats unfounded.
What happened
The first call came in at about 9:54 a.m. to Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School, at 1609 Avenue J, the NYPD said. At about 10 a.m., United Talmudical Academy, at 590 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, received a similar call, according to police.
NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers and bomb-sniffing dogs responded to both schools, which were evacuated while the buildings were searched, Patch and News 12 reported. Video posted to the Citizen app showed students standing near school buses on Avenue J and the Williamsburg block taped off and lined with fire trucks, News 12 reported.
"At this time, there's no threat," the NYPD told JNS, adding that no injuries had been reported, no one had been arrested and the investigation remained open. Students and staff returned to their classrooms after the searches, police said.
Yeshivah of Flatbush asked parents in a letter not to come to the building so police and security staff could manage the situation, JNS reported. Flatbush Shmira, a volunteer community safety patrol, said it was coordinating with police and local schools and described the situation as under control, according to Patch.
Part of a rough week
The incidents left communities across Brooklyn on edge and followed three other bomb threats at schools earlier in the week, News 12 reported. Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, told JNS that five public schools in Jewish neighborhoods received similar threats on Tuesday. He tied the timing to Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Oct. 7 anniversary statement, which leaders of major Jewish organizations have said endangers Jews, according to JNS.
News 12 said it had asked the city's Department of Education and the School Safety Agency for comment.
- PatchBomb Threats Force Brooklyn Jewish Schools To Evacuate, Police Report
- News 12Bomb threats phoned into 2 Brooklyn Yeshivahs moments apart
- JNSAll clear after bomb threats at two Orthodox Jewish schools in Brooklyn, NYPD says
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