Schools
CSUN Threatened With Attack Again As Finals Loom
It's the third anonymous threat of an attack scrawled on a wall at Cal State Northridge since December.
NORTHRIDGE, CA — Once again, students and staffers at Cal State Northridge are contending with an anonymous menacing threat scrawled on a bathroom stall. The vague message threatens an attack next week as student prepare for spring semester finals.
Authorities beefed up security as students and teachers grappled with just how seriously to take the latest threat. The same thing happened during finals in December when a mass shooting was found scrawled on wall in Sierra Hall. The scare prompted teachers to offer alternate exam options for students fearing for their safety. Though the last two anonymous threats proved not to be credible, the inconvenience and alarm they created reflect a scary reality in the era of mass shootings.
The latest message was found Thursday morning written in a bathroom stall on the Cal State Northridge campus.
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In a statement posted on the school's website, police chief Gregory Murphy said his department is treating this matter with the utmost seriousness.
"The CSUN Police have prepared for such an occurrence and immediately began an investigation in conjunction with other law enforcement partners," Murphy said.
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Police asked for any information that can help in identifying the person or persons responsible for writing the message. The content of the message was not released.
"Because we understand the impact these acts have on our community, we will exhaust every investigative resource at our disposal," Murphy said.
Students, too, will have to decide for themselves how seriously to take the threat.
“I do feel like it could be some sort of like an excuse, or some way to get out of finals again,” one student said told CBS News.
A pair of December threats last year left the campus a virtual ghost town during finals week. Investigators determined that two written threats promising shooting rampages were written by different people, and no arrests were made at the time.
Final exams for the spring semester are scheduled to begin May 11.
Anyone with information about the message was asked to call CSUN police at 818-677-2111 or anonymously at 818-677-8477.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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