NYC Schools Got 40 Gun Threats After Florida Massacre: Reports

NEW YORK, NY — The FBI has received at least 40 threats of shootings at New York City-area schools in the two weeks since the massacre in Parkland, Florida, news reports say. Threats have been reported at schools in the five boroughs, Long Island and the Hudson Valley, but only "a couple" have been credible, Bill Sweeney, the FBI's assistant director in charge in New York, reportedly said Tuesday at a media roundtable.

Such an influx is typical after a violent incident captures the nation's attention, Sweeney reportedly said.

"It's almost like you see after any event. You always see a spike in reporting," Sweeney said, according to the New York Daily News. "Everybody's calling in school threats."

City officials are stepping up school security after Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14.

The NYPD arrested two 16-year-olds who threatened to shoot up Brooklyn Prosepect Charter School just an hour after the Florida massacre.

"Obviously some of these are not legit threats, but we’re going to take it that way until we prove otherwise," Sweeney said Tuesday, according to the New York Post.

The FBI has admitted it bungled a credible tip that Cruz was stockpiling guns and might attack a school. But Sweeney reportedly said that shouldn't stop New Yorkers from reporting something suspicious.

"My hope is that we don't have to convince the public it's the right thing to do," he said, according to the Daily News. "I know the public in this region has seen, incident after incident, how effective that has been."

The FBI's New York office did not return Patch's phone call seeking information about threats against schools.

(Lead image: An NYPD patrol car sits outside a Brooklyn high school in December 2015 after a reported bomb threat. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)