Bomb scare prompts US university evacuation

HOUSTON - Louisiana State University (LSU) announced on Monday at about 2 pm the cancellation of all campus activities for the remainder of the day, after a bomb threat earlier prompted an evacuation of the university's main campus.

The announcement stressed to thousands of LSU students and faculty and staff to stay away from the Baton Rouge campus until given specific instructions from the LSU Emergency Operations Center to return, said a report by local news website NOLA.com. ?

LSU Police, supported by multiple law enforcement agencies, continued to investigate the bomb threat, the report said.

The school began evacuating the main campus after someone called 911 at about 10:32 am, reporting a bomb threat. The caller didn't direct the threat to any specific area of the campus, school officials said.

The university posted an alert on its website an hour later. "A bomb threat has been reported on the LSU campus. Please evacuate as calmly and quickly as possible. Check lsu.edu for updates." ?

There are 30,000 students, professors and employees on the campus.

Classes were canceled and cars streamed off campus, creating traffic jam around the university after the LSU Emergency Operations Center ordered a full campus evacuation about 11:30 am.

To fix unexpected traffic jam, LSU police officers took over manual control of traffic lights to better facilitate the large amount of vehicles leaving campus.

The latest alert on the school's website said: LSU continues to investigate the bomb threat reported earlier today. Please stay off campus unless directed to return.

State Police bomb technicians were sent to the scene, said State Police Capt. Doug Cain, along with the "Fusion Center", a section composed of state and local police, national guard and homeland security personnel that establishes a communication link. The federal Department of Homeland Security is also involved, according to media reports.

Cain said police are talking to their counterparts in states where university bomb threats were reported last week to determine whether there are connected.

Campuses in Texas, North Dakota and Ohio were also evacuated last Friday after receiving bomb threats. No explosives were found on those campuses.