By ARCHIE INGERSOLL, Associated Press Writer
MINNEAPOLIS — Seven buildings at the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus were evacuated Wednesday after a professor discovered a bomb threat.
The professor found a note in Smith Hall that included a bomb threat against several campus buildings. The buildings, including a library, were evacuated and classes in those buildings were canceled for the day.
The threat came two days after a 23-year-old Virginia Tech student killed 33 people on campus, including himself.
Universities and public schools in several states have ordered temporary lockdowns or evacuations since Monday’s rampage, the deadliest by a lone gunman in modern U.S. history.
Some of those threats mentioned the Virginia Tech massacre.
University of Minnesota Police Chief Greg Hestness said the bomb threat had specific targets and gave a time frame of before 10 p.m. Wednesday. He said he was aware of the empty threats made against many schools around the country since Monday, but he couldn’t discount the chance of a real attack.
“I don’t think we could err on the side of not believing it,” he said.
Hestness said bomb-sniffing dogs from his department and surrounding departments would sweep the evacuated buildings.