Crime & Safety
FBI Asking for Public's Help in Pitt Bomb Threats Investigation
The Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating 16 bomb threats made on Pitt's campus in the past month.
The FBI is asking for the public's help as investigators try to find who is initiating on the University of Pittsburgh's campus over the past month.
David J. Hickton, who is the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said that the safety of students, staff and faculty at Pitt are "a top priority" and that investigators are working aggressively to stop the multiple bomb threats that are becoming a daily occurrence.
Hickton said that Pitt police and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces are "actively pursuing the source or sources of (the) threats," but he would not expand on any leads that investigators might have. Pitt's campus in Pittsburgh's Oakland area has received at least 16 bomb threats on multiple buildings since Feb. 13, many of which have been on the Cathedral of Learning.
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"While the disruption and fear engendered by such threats is unconscionable," Hickton said in a press release on Friday, "we commend the resilience of the university community.
"The University of Pittsburgh is exercising appropriate regard for safety, through its notification system and through evacuations when threats are received and evaluated, while refusing to allow such threats to paralyze the entire university community in its pursuit of learning and teaching."
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According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the first such threats were scrawled on walls or on paper towels in campus bathrooms. But more recently, some news reporters have been receiving the threats via email, according to the Post-Gazette.
"We cannot comment upon the specifics of the investigation," Hickton said, "but we will continue to work cooperatively and aggressively in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh and the FBI to investigate this criminal activity and to enforce the law."
He asked anyone with information about the bomb threats to contact the FBI in Pittsburgh at 412-432-4000.
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