New York City schools dismissed the same threat that shut down L.A. because it contained a grammatical error
New York City schools were reportedly targeted by the same electronic terror threat that closed schools in Los Angeles on Tuesday, although according to the police the threat was not credible and is being investigated as a hoax, CBS reports. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton confirmed that the email was similar to the one received by the Los Angeles Unified School District, and that it is being looked into by the FBI.
Bratton said one reason authorities believed the email was a hoax was because the word Allah was not capitalized: "The language in the email would lead us to believe that this is not a jihadist initiative... That would be incredible to think that any jihadist would not spell Allah with a capital 'A.'"
"Based on the information that we have, this was a very generic piece of writing sent to a number of different places simultaneously and also written in a fashion that suggests that it's not plausible, and we've come to the conclusion that we must continue to keep our school system open. In fact, it's very important not to overreact in situations like this," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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