Copycat threats shut US campuses

New Delhi: Schools and colleges across the US are tense and panicky after the Virginia Tech shootings. Especially because the killings have prompted scares of copycat attacks.

Teachers locked classroom doors, lowered shades and kept nearly 22,000 school children indoors all day in two northern California cities on Thursday.

That's because 28-year-old Jeffery Thomas Carney threatened to go on a killing spree and make the Virginia Tech massacre "look mild".

Carney has a criminal record and was earlier detained for allegations of domestic violence. Carney surrendered later on Thursday but the spate of threats continued across the US.

Classes were cancelled at a school near Ann Arbor after police found the words "Virginia Tech today" written on a bathroom wall. In St. Augustine, a 14-year-old high school student was charged with felony for sending a threatening e-mail. Police detained a 30-year-old student after he allegedly sent a racist e-mail to a teacher at Missouri State University.

Missouri State University President Mike Nietzel said, “The email was sent to the faculty member and the department head, neither of whom was threatened in the email. The threats were at categories of people."

So this week's seen a series of lock-downs and evacuations at schools around the country in the wake of the Virginia Tech killings. Security has been tightened and patrolling increased in and around universities in the US.

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