Police are investigating threatening graffiti found in a women’s restroom stall across the hall from Liberal Arts 2 that read “School shooter tm [tomorrow] be warned 5-9” Wednesday.
I found this in one of the bathrooms near the Liberal Arts department at CSULB. It’s already reported but if y’all go to campus tomorrow please be careful! pic.twitter.com/oNOiwTkNLg
— hot cheeto shawty (@HayatMarisol) May 9, 2019
An official statement by the university, sent by email at 11:17 p.m. Wednesday, stated “We are continuing to conduct our investigation, but our initial assessment is that there is no immediate threat to campus.”
The official statement said there had been similar threats on other campuses.
The restroom message was tweeted around 6 p.m. by Marisol Romdhane, a senior American Studies major at Long Beach State. Her post read, “I found this in one of the bathrooms near the Liberal Arts department at CSULB. It’s already reported but if y’all go to campus tomorrow please be careful!”
“We investigate every single [threat] that we get; any call we get, we investigate early,” said Captain Richard Goodwin of the University Police Department. “This is no exception. We are investigating thoroughly to see if we have a tangible threat or a credible threat with regard to the safety of the faculty staff and students.”
President Jane Close Conoley commented on the possible threat.
“All our police and leadership resources are working on this right now,” Conoley said in an email. “We do not deem this a credible threat but we are investigating.”
The female hygiene box the graffiti was originally written on has since been removed from the stall.
“Around 6 [p.m.] I went to the bathroom and chose a random stall and came across this,” Romdhane said. “I decided to ask [the library] where I could go and the people at the front desk called campus security for me.”
The campus has acknowledged the message and responded on Twitter that the situation is being investigated.
By 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, helicopters were whirring over the campus. Several students were posting on social media that they would not be coming to class.
Multiple professors have cancelled Thursday classes in response to the possible threat.
The Coffee Bean in the University Student Union confirmed on Twitter that they will be closed Thursday.
“We are a corporate store and our district manager agreed the situation is too serious to risk being open tomorrow,” Melissa Niles said on Twitter.
This story will be updated.
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