Minnesota Jewish Community Center one of dozens targeted by bomb threats
A Jewish Community Center in St. Louis Park was among several Jewish centers across the country to receive a bomb threat Wednesday morning.
The threat came in over the phone and the Sabes JCC and Barry Family Campus "were safely evacuated," Steve Hunegs, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said in a statement.
The St. Louis Police Department was called to the center – which includes a daycare, school and other facilities – just after 10 a.m., noting the building was evacuated and children were reunited with their parents, the police said on Facebook.
Three teams of bomb-sniffing dogs inspected the building and found nothing of concern, police said, noting they left the center around 1 p.m. They'll continue to investigate the threat, and said they notified federal authorities of the threat, who said Jewish institutions across the country had received similar threats Wednesday morning.
Hunegs said threats were made to JCCs in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts and Maine. Forward.com reports bomb threats were made towards 25 JCCs across the U.S.
Similar threats to JCCs were made in at least nine states earlier this month, too, USA Today reported.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon's 4-year-old daughter goes to preschool at the St. Louis Park center. He sent out a few tweets about the threat Wednesday afternoon: