Authorities are investigating a series of bomb threats made Tuesday against several universities and colleges in Hampton Roads.
Regent University in Virginia Beach, Tidewater Community College in Chesapeake, Virginia Peninsula Community College in Hampton, and Norfolk State University all received threats Tuesday, according to school and public safety officials. No explosives were found on any of the campuses.
TCC Chesapeake received a threat of a backpack bomb with a timer located in some unknown area on campus, according to the Chesapeake Fire Department. It was unclear if the other universities received threats that were similar in nature.
Chesapeake fire officials said the initial report regarding TCC came in at 11:21 a.m. The college was evacuated and the school sent out a campus-wide notification and told people to stay clear of police activity.
About 180 students, faculty and staff were on on TCC’s Chesapeake campus Tuesday morning when the threat was made, said TCC spokesperson Laura Sanford. Chesapeake police and fire departments were on the scene of the TCC on Cedar Road at 11:47 a.m. and gave the “all clear” at 11:58 a.m., she said
“There were no explosive devices found and an all-clear was given to reoccupy the building,” said Captain Steve Bradley with the Chesapeake Fire Department. “The investigation will continue in coordination with neighboring cities who received similar threats.”
University and Virginia Beach police conducted a sweep of the Regent campus and issued an “all clear” at 1:10 p.m., allowing the campus to reopen, according to Chris Roslan, a spokesperson for Regent.
Roslan did not provide an exact number of people who were on Regent’s campus at the time of the threat but said there were “very few” due to summer break.
Virginia Peninsula Community College police received a call of a threat at 12:18 p.m., prompting them to notify Hampton police and fire. A K-9 unit searched Hastings Hall on the Hampton campus but did not locate any device. Everyone was cleared to return to the building by 2:18 p.m., according to a spokesperson for the college.
“No one was injured or ever in danger,” said Kelvin Maxwell, chief of the campus police.
At NSU, a university spokesperson said the call regarding a bomb threat in the university’s administration building was made to Norfolk police just before noon. All students, faculty and staff were relocated and police searched the building. No explosives were found and an all clear was issued at 1:17 p.m.
The round of bomb threats against local schools comes after Norfolk State University and Hampton University received threats that wound up being part of a national wave of threats against historically Black religious and academic institutions targeted earlier this year.
A total of 57 schools and institutions received threats between Jan. 4 and Feb. 16. No explosive devices were found in connection to any of the threats made during this period, according to the FBI.
An FBI spokesperson said Tuesday the bureau was aware of the bomb threats “received by multiple colleges and universities” but declined to comment on how many colleges in the region received threats.
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