Schools, police react quickly to defuse bomb threat made to area campuses

CONCORD, CA (Apr. 21, 2024) — A handful of schools in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District were among dozens of schools in districts across the East Bay to receive a bomb threat that sent administrators and law enforcement scrambling to determine its validity.

The emails arrived at 6:05 a.m. on Wednesday, April 17, and contained letters stating a bomb on an unspecified campus would detonate at 1 p.m. unless all “Russian prisoners and captives and persons from all U.S. jails, prisons and institutions” were released.

Following district protocols, local police departments were immediately notified and law enforcement and school personnel worked together to verify that the threat was not credible.

“None of our sites had suspicious activity,” said MDUSD Superintendent Adam Clark.

While current evidence suggested that it was likely a hoax, Clark said “we must remain vigilant in ensuring the safety and security of our schools.”

He added that MDUSD principals were advised to monitor campuses closely and report any unusual activities—such as suspicious packages, vehicles, or individuals—to our local police immediately.

“Although there is no immediate cause for alarm, we advise District staff and community members to stay alert and aware of our school surroundings,” Clark added.

The Concord Police reported that some of the schools in Concord received the threatening email message.

“When there are situations of this nature, we work with the school administrators and the district officials on how to best assess the incident at hand and respond appropriately,” the department reported in a statement to The Pioneer.

Pleasant Hill Police Department Lt. Jason Kleven noted the agency’s school resource officer also made stops at many school sites in the wake of the incident.

“The investigation into the origin of the email is on-going and no arrests have been made at this time,” Kleven said.

David Scholz

David Scholz is back in journalism as a freelance writer and photographer after nearly two decades in education. Prior to moving into teaching in 2000, he worked as a full-time journalist since 1988 for rural community and small daily newspapers in Central Ohio and Northern Nevada, and later in California with The Business Journal in Fresno and dailies in the Bay Area, including The Oakland Tribune and The San Francisco Chronicle. More recently Scholz also worked in an editing, writing, and page layout role with the Rossmoor News.