UPDATE: This article was updated at 10:36 a.m. on Friday to include comments from Sergeant Matt Sabosky.
Mira Costa High School and Pennekamp Elementary School in Manhattan Beach were shut down Friday morning after a “specific threat” was made against the high school, according to Manhattan Beach Police, who sent out a Nixle alert at 7:47 a.m.
Police asked that people avoid the area, which is north of Artesia Boulevard and east of Sepulveda Boulevard, until further notification.
Watch Commander Sergeant Matt Sabosky said he couldn’t comment on the nature of the threat because of the pending investigation.
The decision to close was the schools’, he said.
“Police never make recommendations for bomb threat calls to individual business owners or schools,” he said.
The high school was also shut down Monday after a bomb threat was made and was reopened Tuesday.
However, unlike on Monday, when a command center was set up and over 80 officers from different protection agencies throughout the county responded, police didn’t set up a command center Friday.
Mira Costa High School Principal Ben Dale sent out an email to parents at 7 a.m. Friday saying, “We are working on another threat issue. More information to come. School will be cancelled today.”
The Daily Breeze reported that Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said that the threat arrived in an email and that Pennekamp was closed due to its proximity to Mira Costa.
Mira Costa and Pennekamp are on the same parcel of land as the school district’s administration office, which remained open Friday.
Some threatening graffiti was found on Redondo Union High School Friday morning, but school wasn’t cancelled.
“You are all [expletive] animals being led to the slaughter as you deserve,” was spraypainted in red on the ground.
Principal Dr. Nicole Wesley said the graffiti was being cleaned up and the school was working with Redondo Beach police, who would be present at the school throughout the day.
“Should the situation change, and we receive actionable information, we will communicate with you immediately,” she wrote in an email to parents. ER
