Schools throughout Pembroke Pines and Broward County were placed on lockdown Wednesday as a precaution after a woman called a local radio station and said her husband was going to go to a Pembroke Pines school and start shooting.
Pembroke Pines schools were put on lockdown after the threat was made around 8:40 a.m., and by 11 a.m., the decision was made to lockdown all Broward county schools and charter schools, school officials said, as a precautionary measure to limit movement and keep the school environments safe.
Police said the radio station had also received an e-mail threat saying that "something big was going to happen" around government buildings in Broward County, possibly at a post office or even a school.
The lockdown was canceled around 1:45 p.m. after it was determined the credibility of the threat had diminished, according to Pembroke Pines Police spokesman Capt. Dan Rakofsky.
Rakofsky said schools would operate under a normal dismissal but all after-school activities had been canceled. He added that there would be enhanced police presence at all schools.
Authorities have yet to confirm the identity of who made the threats but believe both were made by the same person, Rakofsky said.
Rakofsky said all the students in Pembroke Pines and Broward were safe and that the threat did not appear credible, but appropriate measures had to be taken just in case.
"Any threat that has this level of information in it needs to be taken seriously," he said.
Local, state and federal authorities are currently investigating the threats.
Local
Worried parents had gathered at several schools throughout the area to wait for their children, despite school officials ' assurances that their children were safe.
Parents are asked to call 954-438-4636 for more information.
