Threat made toward Southeast Community College closes all campuses on Friday
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — An online threat was made toward Southeast Community College’s Lincoln campus on Friday.
In a message on SCC’s website, officials said all school campuses and learning centers will remain closed for the remainder of the day.
Officials said while there is no active threat or shooter on campus, the college is working closely with law enforcement during the investigation.
LPD said the college requested an increased officer presence on the Lincoln campuses.
“Our campus security team received the news early this morning from the Lincoln Police Department directly,” said Seth Meranda, “The FBI tracked it.”
Meranda, the Communications director for SCC, explained that comments were made on an online gaming platform, which the FBI first discovered.
The agency then contacted LPD, who notified SCC around 5:00 a.m.
At that time, the school’s critical incident team met with the administration, including SCC President Dr. Illich, and decided to close all campuses and learning centers while an investigation was underway.
A decision, they say, was made out of an abundance of caution.
In light of this news, as well as the recent increase in swatting calls across Lincoln, all schools like SCC have had their guard up.
“It’s really about trying to make sure we keep everybody safe and everybody off campus,” said Meranda.
“Regardless of how that information comes to us, I think our operations are very similar in both situations, and we’ll act as quickly as possible on all of those, on all those things we need to do.”
LPD said investigators contacted the person responsible and determined there is no active threat to any SCC campuses, staff or students.
LPD said no arrests have been made at this time. The police department gave Channel 8 the following response.
“Investigative efforts led us to determine the threat was not credible.”
The FBI Omaha bureau also responded to Channel 8’s request for comment, saying the following:
“FBI Omaha has been in contact with the Lincoln Police Department regarding the threat to Southeast Community College. Given that it was determined there was no threat to public safety, it is our policy not to confirm or deny whether we are investigating.”
SCC officials said Continuing Education classes may proceed as scheduled, and instructors will contact students directly with any specific details.
This is a developing story. Check back with Channel 8 for updates.
