A 16-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with making terroristic threats after several predominantly Black schools in Washington, D.C., were targeted with bomb threats Wednesday, authorities have said, reports NBC News.
Among the schools targeted was one that had already received a threat just a day earlier during a visit from second gentleman Doug Emhoff (Kamala Harris’ husband).
In a statement Thursday, the Metropolitan Police Department announced that the 16-year-old had been arrested. The agency said it continued to investigate the bomb threats with federal partners.
On Wednesday, police said at least eight schools had received threats, including four public high schools and four charter schools. At least some of the schools had to be evacuated, police said.
All schools were eventually “cleared with no hazardous material found,” police said. One of them did not have classes in session when the threat was made.
According to the most recent data published on the D.C. school Report Card’s website. at least seven of the eight schools targeted have a predominantly Black student population.
Among them was the Dunbar High School, where Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, had to be taken to safety following a bomb threat on Tuesday. The second gentleman had been visiting the school for a Black History Month event.
Authorities said the incident at Dunbar, which is considered the first school for Black Americans in the U.S., did not appear to be targeting Emhoff. They also did not indicate that race was a factor.
The bomb threats come, however, after a string of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, were targeted with bomb threats this month, with the threats starting in the lead-up to Black History Month, with at least a dozen threats made on the first day of the month.
No explosives have been found in connection with the threats, but the FBI is investigating the matter
