Florida Memorial University was one of at least seven historically Black colleges or universities in the U.S. that on Tuesday night received bomb threats. None of the schools reported an explosion.
Howard University in Washington D.C.; North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina; Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia; and Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas, confirmed similar threats. The Washington Post reported Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans and University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff also received them.
It’s unclear if any of the incidents were related.
Florida Memorial, which is based in Miami Gardens, said in a statement Wednesday morning that Miami Gardens Police first alerted the private university of the threat. South Florida’s only historically Black university shut down its campus and notified its faculty, staff and students about it.
Carolyn Frazer, a Miami Gardens Police spokesperson, confirmed to the Herald that the department got the alert from a third party and responded at about 6:30 p.m.
Miami Gardens Police, Miami-Dade Police Bomb K-9 Unit and campus security searched the campus for any suspicious packages. They didn’t find anything so the campus reopened. It’s unclear how long the canvassing took.
“Campus security will continue to work with all involved agencies as the investigation remains ongoing,” the FMU statement said.
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