LA schools ordered to close following 'credible terror threat'

All schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District have been ordered closed due to a threat.

Fox News are reporting that officials in Los Angeles have called it a "credible terror threat".

They report police in the area saying that a member of the LA Unified School District Board of Education had received a bomb threat.

Officials said they received an electronic threat and are still analysing it, adding that the action was being taken out of an abundance of caution.

"We are taking this action in abundance of caution." L.A. schools closed over threat https://t.co/ZFF4ReUA47 https://t.co/QWgpu0Aq6c

— CNN (@CNN) December 15, 2015

According to the Guardian newspaper, school superintendent Ramon Cortines told a press conference that the threat was “not to one school, two school or three schools” but to “many schools” and “at school students” generally.

Mr Cortines said a number of factors contributed to his decision.

The "credible threat" of violence involved backpacks and packages left at LAUSD campuses https://t.co/2DBTTdAPEo pic.twitter.com/0jyTPT6HNd

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) December 15, 2015

He said: "I think the circumstances in the neighbouring San Bernardinho, what has happened in the nation, I think what happened internationally, I as superintendent, am not going to take the chance with the life of a student."

He declined to describe the nature of the threat.

Mr Cortines said every school in the district would be searched.

L.A. schools get threats all the time – but this is a “rare threat,” superintendent says https://t.co/kD6bzQerPI pic.twitter.com/8BXiCaCWrX

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) December 15, 2015

The BBC has reported that Steven Zipperman, chief of the Los Angeles school police department, said: "Earlier this morning we did receive an electronic threat that mentions the safety of our schools.

"We have chosen to close our schools today until we can be absolutely sure that our campuses are safe."

School board president Steve Zimmer said: “We need the co-operation of the whole of Los Angeles today.

“We need families and neighbours to work together with our schools and with our employees to make sure our schools are safe throughout today.”

School district spokeswoman Ellen Morgan announced the closure today but released no further details ahead of a press conference at district headquarters.

The district, the second largest in the United States, has 640,000 students in kindergarten through to 12th grade, more than 900 schools and a total of 187 public charter schools.

JUST IN: Sources: Bomb threat emailed to school board member led to decision to close LA Unified School District schools - @NBCInvestigates

— NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas (@NBCNightlyNews) December 15, 2015

The district spans 720 square miles including Los Angeles and all or part of more than 30 smaller cities.