'Swatting' threats at New York State schools include Amagansett on Long Island

More than 10 school districts statewide, including at least one on Long Island, received “swatting” threats Wednesday that were intended to cause panic and scare students and faculty, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

East Hampton Town Police confirmed one of those threats was received early Wednesday by officials in the Amagansett school district, which has one elementary school. East Hampton officers and state police responded to Amagansett School but found no credible threat, officials said.

Meanwhile, Nassau County police confirmed that “a public safety threat” directed at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School was received at 12:29 p.m.

Plainview-Old Bethpage Superintendent Mary O’Meara said the incident was sparked when a student “made a verbal threat against the building which was heard by another student. The student reported what they heard to the building administration. Under the direction of Nassau County Police Department and Homeland Security, the building was evacuated.”

Law enforcement, she said, swept the building, determined it was safe to reopen and classes at the middle school will resume Thursday.

“Following the incident, the student’s parents were notified and the district is collaborating with law enforcement officials in their investigation,” O’Meara said.

Police and district officials said the incident at Plainview-Old Bethpage appeared unrelated to statewide incidents of swatting — a growing practice of making false 911 calls in order to unnecessarily dispatch police officers.

East Hampton Police spokesman Capt. Christopher Anderson said Amagansett received an emailed threat shortly before 9 a.m. from an anonymous source stating that bombs had been placed in the school “as well as every school in New York State.” The email, he said, “listed a place upstate where the ransom should be delivered.”

But investigators determined the threat was not credible, Anderson said.

“It almost seemed as if it was half bomb threat with a component of swatting to it,” Anderson said. “But after investigation, it was determined it was all bogus . . . This originated in a foreign country, as far as we could tell.”

The building was evacuated and law enforcement searched the school but found nothing suspicious, he said. Students were allowed back in shortly before 11 a.m.

Anderson did not elaborate further, citing the ongoing statewide investigation, which other law enforcement agencies confirmed involves the Department of Homeland Security.

In a statement Wednesday, Hochul said more than 10 districts received “disturbing ‘swatting’ threats,” including those on Long Island, Western New York, the Capital Region, Central New York, the Southern Tier and the North Country.

“I want to reassure parents that their children are safe at school — swatting threats are false and intended to cause panic and scare students, teachers and families,” Hochul said. “I have directed the New York State Police to investigate these threats and work closely with all levels of law enforcement to identify the perpetrators, hold them accountable, and restore the sense of safety and security our children deserve.”

Hochul’s office said many of the threats went to local police departments and that state police were compiling a list of affected schools.

State police said they did not have a list of schools that received threats.

“We are actively working with our federal and local partners to investigate these reports and any specific threats,” state police said in a statement. “These reports have thus far been unfounded.”

The NYPD, as well as state police and police in Nassau and Suffolk, have been on heightened alert since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7.

In a statement Wednesday, the NYPD said: “We are currently in a heightened threat environment and tensions have been rising since the assault against Israel on October 7th. The NYPD is doing everything we can do to forestall future violence in our city. However, we know the ongoing events overseas may resonate with individuals domestically and that is hard to anticipate.

“The NYPD asks all New Yorkers to remain vigilant and reminds everyone if they see something to say something. For these reasons, the NYPD is continuing with our Citywide all-out deployment and all in-service training will continue to be postponed until further notice.”

Officials at Plainview-Old Bethpage indicated the incident there was unrelated to the Israel-Hamas war.