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Police have responded to at least six bomb threats at Washington D.C. high schools on Wednesday.
The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) confirmed on Twitter that public and charter schools in the area have been evacuated. District of Columbia Public Schools said that those high schools include Roosevelt, Ron Brown, and Dunbar—the same school where Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff was forced to evacuate due to another bomb threat the day prior.
The police department also said it was investigating threats at KIPP DC College Preparatory, IDEA Public Charter School and Seed Public Charter School. IDEA and Seed told local news station WUSA-TV they received threats around lunchtime. School officials notified parents and MPD of the situation.
Police said an investigation into the details is ongoing. As of Wednesday afternoon, all of the schools were cleared without any hazardous materials found, the department said.
This was the second bomb threat in two days for Dunbar High School, the first public high school in the country created to educate African American students. Newsweek reported that the Tuesday threat at Dunbar High School came via phone call, with the person on the other line saying there was a bomb inside the school and everyone had 10 minutes to get out.
Secret Service had to remove Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, from the school only a few minutes into the Black History Month event. It was not immediately clear whether the latest bomb threat at Dunbar was directly related to Tuesday's.
Some are speculating whether these threats have any relation to a series of recent bomb threats against historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) last week. Over a dozen HBCUs in several different states received threats on January 31 and February 1, the first day of Black History Month. Law enforcement did not find bombs in any of the institutions.
MPD Chief Robert Contee told a WTTG-TV reporter that authorities did not have any evidence tying Wednesday's situation to the HBCU threats, but "it's not being ruled out" in their investigation.
Lewis D. Ferebee, chancellor for DCPS, said on Twitter the threats are "troublesome incidents that we take very seriously."
"All students & staff were safely evacuated in accordance with DCPS protocols, and MPD responded swiftly to the schools," Ferebee wrote. "[DCPS] values the safety of all our students, staff, and visitors and will continue to offer support to our school communities while the MPD investigations are ongoing."
IDEA Public Charter School also released a statement on the situation, saying the threats are being "taken seriously and investigated thoroughly."
"Our school is committed to the safety and education of all our scholars," the statement said.
Update 02/09/22, 3:15 p.m. ET: This story was updated with details from the D.C. Metropolitan Police and a statement from IDEA Public Charter School.
Update 02/09/22, 2:15 p.m. ET: This story was updated to add more information and a statement from Lewis D. Ferebee, chancellor for District of Columbia Public Schools.
