At 10:30 this morning Daytona State College posted the following message on its Facebook page: “DSC Alert! Due to potential threat, please evacuate all Daytona State College campuses immediately. All Daytona State College campuses are closed until further notice.”
Just before noon, the college said the threat had been cleared, but that campuses would remain closed.
Volusia County Sheriff’s spokesman Andrew Gant said “there was an emailed threat to the Daytona Beach campus this morning. Daytona PD is investigating and deputies are assisting.”
It wasn’t clear if the alert applied to DSC’s Palm Coast campus, which was not immediately evacuated.
Daytona State issued a subsequent statement that read: “Daytona State College received a very specific threat that entailed shooting and explosives. We are working with all the authorities to assess and clear the campuses.” The college then said the threat had “specific information and a time.”
At 11:05 this morning, Flagler County Sheriff’s spokesperson Brittany Kershaw said deputies had been dispatched to the campus on Palm Coast Parkway, just east of I-95, but no evacuations had yet taken place.
“We’ve been in contract with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and we have units at our campus,” Kershaw said. “They’re going to meet with the staff of the school and talk to them, it’ll be up to the school whether or not they want to evacuate, and if they do, law enforcement will assist with that. But it won’t be our decision, it’ll be their decision. But we do have units on scene and we’ll have added security for the rest of the day today.”
The threat was not be exclusive to Daytona State College. Southeastern University in Lakeland was also on lockdown this morning, starting at 9:30 a.m. “We’ve got it locked down, our deputies are there, K-9, drones, we’re searching the campus,” a Polk County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said at 11:25 a.m.
At 11:45 a.m., Daytona State said: “The College worked with authorities, and all campuses are now cleared. The College will remain closed for the remainder of the day. All classes and operations will resume as normal tomorrow.” Southeastern’s campus was set to reopen in the afternoon.
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