Officials: Bomb threats made to Volusia and Flagler schools

Bomb threats made to schools in Volusia and Flagler counties on Thursday morning prompted the evacuation of at least one campus after a caller claimed that a device was located in a room at the school, authorities said.

Daytona State College New Smyrna Beach-Edgewater campus, located at 940 10th St., was evacuated at around 11 a.m. after Volusia County dispatchers received 911 calls.

Bomb threats were also made to Keiser University in Daytona Beach, and the Flagler Technical College in Palm Coast Flagler County.

The bomb threat calls were also made to Florida State University in Tallahassee and FSU's campus in Panama City, police in that city said.

More threats: Bomb threat targets Florida State along with other Florida schools, building evacuated

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, whose agency provided a helicopter to fly over the Edgewater campus and nearby woods to ensure that everything was secure, said the 911 calls appear to be swatting incidents.

"Swatting is when people make hoax calls about an active shooter or bomb threats to draw a major response from law enforcement," Chitwood said.

The second bomb threat was made to Keiser University at 11:11 a.m., but no one was at that school, said Daytona Beach police spokesman Messod Bendayan.

"We are looking into it, but it appears to be a swatting thing," Bendayan said.

Then, around 12:03 p.m., the Flagler County Sheriff's Office also said in a Twitter post that a bomb threat was made to Flagler Palm Coast High School and Flagler Technical College.

But Flagler County schools spokesman Jason Wheeler said that Flagler Palm Coast High School was placed in lockdown because Flagler Technical College was adjacent to the high school.

No bomb threat was made to the high school, Wheeler said.

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said the high school was placed in lockdown and the technical college evacuated. No explosive devices were found and the schools were reopened at 1:26 p.m., he said.

FBI: Threats against HBCUs, including Bethune-Cookman, investigated 'as highest priority'

More: Disruptive threats of violence made against Edward Waters, other HBCUs after B-CU lockdown

Edgewater Police Chief Joe Mahoney said the bomb threat to his city's Daytona State College campus was also called in to police dispatchers.

In radio communications with police rushing to the scene, dispatchers said a device was located in a room on the second floor of a Daytona State College building and that the school was being evacuated.

By 11:42 a.m., police reported they had completed a primary search of the school and had not located any device. Police ran a secondary search and the campus was cleared to reopen at 12:14 p.m.

"It appears to be a hoax at this time due to inconsistencies reported by the caller," Mahoney said.

In February, similar calls were made to Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach. B-CU was one of several historically Black colleges and universities that were targeted by swatting across the country.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Bomb threats made to schools in Volusia and Flagler counties