The Bethlehem Central School District has now received a total of six threats of violence – all of which police said are coming from a “spoofed” number.

Superintendent of Schools Jody Monroe said schools will be open on Monday with increased security.

“All school activities, including after school activities, will resume unless otherwise communicated by the district,” she said at a news conference on Friday.

She thanked the police for all of their hard work.

Bethlehem Police Chief Gina Cocchiara outlined the timeline of threats made against the district.

• Tuesday, September 10th at 8:30 p.m. – A voicemail was left on the high school phone system threatening to shoot up the school.
• Tuesday, Sept. 10, 8:38 p.m. – Bethlehem Police dispatch receives its first phone call making that same threat to shoot everybody at the school.
• Wednesday, Sept. 11, 3:56 p.m. – Bethlehem Police dispatch receive a threat to shoot the football team at the high school. That led to the cancellation of after school activities.
• Wednesday, Sept. 11, 9:16 p.m. – The dispatch center receives a third call from a person saying they are going to shoot up Bethlehem Middle School and Bethlehem High School.
• Thursday, Sept. 12, 2 p.m. – A fourth call was received at the dispatch center saying they were going to shoot up the high school.
• Thursday, Sept. 12 at 8:03 p.m. – The police dispatch center received a fifth call saying it was going to shoot the football team at its practice on Friday at 5:30 p.m.  

Cocchiara said police are doing everything they can to figure out who is making these calls.

“We’re not going to stop until we bring this coward to justice. This is what we do, and we do it very well,” she said at a news conference on Friday afternoon.

The FBI is helping with the investigation. A male voice is on the line in all of the threats.

However, police cannot trace the call, because it is not a regular number, but a spoofed number that is masking the source of the call. Also, Google has not been very helpful in the investigation, the chief said.

Anyone who may have information related to these incidents is asked to contact the Bethlehem Police Department at 518-439-9973. 

“We will not stop giving resources to the school district. We will have more police officers within the schools. I personally show up here at 6:30 a.m. every morning and I’ll continue to do so. This is my community and these are my kids and my families, police officers have kids in these schools.”

The FBI is assisting in the investigation.

Craig Tremaroli, special agent in charge for the FBI said that federal agents have been working very closely with local law enforcement agencies. The FBI has seen a rise in these kinds of cases and takes them very seriously.

“Our office has been providing significant resources to assist Bethlehem Police Department with their investigation, specifically investigative intelligence and forensic capabilities to include cell phone and tracking analysis. It’s important to note the FBI’s largest resource we can bring to bear is our reach. Many times, these investigations involve multiple states and jurisdictions,” he said.

Bethlehem Supervisor David VanLuven said these phone call threats have been frightening but he is reassured by the incredible cooperation of police and school officials.

Assemblywoman Pat Fahy (D – Albany) has lobbied for federal help in this investigation and reached out to U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko.

“As a parent, my heart goes out to every family here, every administrator, every teacher. This is just a terrible and relentless uh situation that is going on now across the country,” she said.