Police across Utah were evacuating buildings and looking for suspicious packages Thursday, as bomb threats were reported up and down the state.
The threats appeared to be part of a nationwide hoax. No credible threats have been found, The Associated Press reported.
At Dixie State University in St. George, a bomb threat was made to a testing center. In a series of tweets that began at 11:55 a.m., the university’s Twitter account said the testing center was evacuated, searched and cleared of the allegation that there was any danger. The building was reopened about an hour later.
In Park City, the town’s newspaper, The Park Record, was evacuated after a threat was made there. Nothing was found and workers returned.
“It sounds to me like they are hitting everyone," Park City police Chief Wade Carpenter said of the hoaxers.
Reporters at The Daily Herald in Provo tweeted that they received a threat, too.
The AP reported that authorities say bomb threats sent to dozens of schools, universities and other locations across the U.S. appear to be a hoax.
The New York City Police Department said the threats sent Thursday were meant to cause disruption and compel recipients into sending money and are not considered credible.
Some of the emails had the subject line: “Think Twice.”
Law enforcement officials in Palm Beach, Fla., and Boise, Idaho, said they had no reason to believe threats made in those cities were credible.
Across the country, some schools were closed early and others were evacuated because of the threats. Penn State University notified students via a campus alert. Near Atlanta, people were ushered out of a courthouse.
This story will be updated. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
