The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly issued a security bulletin warning about school intruders after a number of unauthorized individuals either tried to enter or gained entry to schools in Massachusetts in recent weeks.
In one case, a man claiming to work for a phone company tried to enter a daycare, per the report, while another man tried to enter an elementary school claiming he wanted to charge his phone. A third man reportedly entered a high school, took photographs, and when staff confronted him, could not provide a reason for his presence at the school.
When asked by The Epoch Times to confirm the details contained in the bulletin, an FBI spokesperson said that the bureau’s standard practice is not to comment on specific intelligence products.“As part of the continuous dialogue with our law enforcement partners, the FBI routinely shares information to assist law enforcement in protecting the communities they serve,” the spokesperson said.
“We urge the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to law enforcement,” the spokesperson added.
The FBI bulletin reported on by ABC News bears the date Nov. 17 and indicates that the incidents took place between Oct. 18 and Nov. 9, 2023.
More School Entry Attempts
Police in Lowell, Massachusetts were increasing patrols after three “unauthorized individuals” tried to enter two public schools in the city on Nov. 28, according to Boston 25.“Three unauthorized individuals were denied entry at two schools by school staff members who followed established protocol,” Interim Superintendent of Schools Liam Skinner said in a letter to parents, per the report.
“We take these incidents very seriously and immediately reported them to the Lowell Police Department, which is actively investigating these matters while increasing patrols of the schools,” Mr. Skinner added.
Mr. Skinner told the outlet that law enforcement has been involved in similar incidents in at least three other school districts across the state, per Boston 25.
In another incident, one of the men from the Moody school incident and a second man tried to enter the Shaughnessy school, which is also located in Lowell.
Citing Mr. Scott, the report indicates that the men were of similar profiles and in each case, when confronted, the individuals could not provide a valid reason for their presence at the schools.
“I got several superintendents who responded to me and said I had a similar situation that occurred to me in my district,” Mr. Scott told the outlet. “I shared that back with the FBI.”
FBI Director Warns
Reports of suspicious individuals trying to enter Massachusetts schools come as FBI Director Christopher Wray recently warned that the Israel–Hamas war could spark attacks on targets within the United States by extremists inspired by the Hamas terror group.Mr. Wray told lawmakers during a hearing on Capitol Hill at the end of October that there was no information to indicate that Hamas itself “has the intent or capability to conduct operations inside the U.S., though we cannot, and do not, discount that possibility.”
However, he added that the most significant terrorism threat domestically is “posed by lone actors or small cells of individuals who typically radicalize violence online and who primarily use easily accessible weapons to attack soft targets.”
The FBI chief also said that the bureau believes there has been a rise in anti-Jewish incidents across the United States.
He said that the FBI was tracking what it believes to be a rise in antisemitism via joint terrorism task forces, intelligence gathering efforts, and hate crime investigations.
“In fact, our statistics would indicate that for a group that represents only about 2.4 percent of the American public, they account for something like 60 percent of all religious-based hate crimes,” he said.
