DES MOINES (AP) — Authorities are trying to determine whether bomb threats at four Iowa schools are linked to threats reported nationwide.
Valley High School and Altoona Elementary School in the Des Moines area and Excelsior Middle School in Marion and Tate High School in Iowa City received calls and were evacuated Monday.
It is unclear whether the Iowa threats were linked and, if so, were linked only to each other or were part of the national outbreak reported Monday.
Hoaxers playing online games in recently months have used identity-disguising tools to anonymously threaten schools online or in phone messages with electronic voices to trigger police response. The latest threats led to the evacuation of schools in Colorado, Utah, Delaware, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Wisconsin.