Hyde Park Jewish Center Evacuated After Bomb Threat

CHICAGO, IL — A Hyde Park Jewish community center was evacuated Monday after the facility received a phoned-in bomb threat, ABC 7 Chicago reports.

The Hyde Park JCC, 5200 S. Hyde Park Blvd., received the bomb threat Monday morning, and the center was immediately evacuated, the report stated. Chicago police allowed people to return to the center just before noon after officers investigated the threat at the scene, the report added.

The Hyde Park facility was one of 11 Jewish community centers targeted with bomb threats Presidents Day, according to David Posner, director of strategic performance at the JCC Association of North America. The threats, however, were all determined to be hoaxes, Posner said in a statement.

RELATED: 14 Jewish Community Centers Receive Bomb Threats

In response to the bomb threats against the centers, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago's first Jewish mayor, released the following statement:

"Threats against any American are a threat to every American. Our country was founded on religious freedom and Americans of every faith have helped build, secure and defend the United States throughout our history. Cowardly acts like the recent wave of threats against Jewish community centers across the country, including here in Chicago, are an affront to our most basic American values and shared sense of human decency. Any attempts to intimidate Americans of any religion will fail."

Last month, more than a dozen Jewish centers in the United States, including one in Lake Zurich, received bomb threats. Since the beginning of the year, 54 Jewish community centers have been targeted.

More via ABC 7 Chicago

Hyde Park JCC (screen shot via Google Earth)

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