By Sheila V. Kumar
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE — Classes at Louisiana State University’s main campus resumed Tuesday as police searched for the person who called in a bomb threat a day earlier, causing the evacuation of thousands of students.
Police have been tight-lipped about the call, but U.S. Attorney Don Cazayoux said the male caller talked about “multiple bombs.”
“The investigation is still ongoing. They’re being very diligent and aggressive about it,” he said.
The threat was phoned into 911 on Monday morning. The caller didn’t indicate which part of campus was threatened, so officials ordered a campuswide evacuation about an hour after the call.
A majority of the 30,000 students, professors and university employees were probably on campus at the time, officials said. Police and bomb-sniffing dogs swept the campus, beginning with residential halls, and university officials gave the all-clear around 11 p.m. Monday.
Campuses in Texas, North Dakota and Ohio were evacuated Friday after receiving bomb threats, but police also found no explosives. LSU police Capt. Corey Lalonde said they were looking into any connection between the threats and declined to answer any questions about the investigation.
The university issued a statement on its website announcing the evacuation an hour after the phone call was received, and then disseminated the warning through text messages, emails and social media outlets.
Col. Mike Edmonson, superintendent of state police, said despite some initial gridlock, the campus was evacuated an hour after the alert went out.
Most students seemed to take the evacuation in stride, with many spending the day off to catch up on their studies or visit off-campus friends. The football team, ranked No. 2 in the country, had to cancel practice.
Cazayoux wouldn’t go into details about what charges the caller might face, but said it would “certainly be worthy of federal attention.” The 6,000 students who live on-campus were able to return to their dorms after police cleared the residential and dining halls first.
