Port St. Lucie Turnpike Service Plaza reopened after bomb threat
A Florida Turnpike service plaza was evacuated for hours Friday afternoon as police investigated a bomb threat made to two buses of students from a Jewish Community Center in Miami.According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the students from the Michael Ann Russell JCC stopped at the service plaza in Port St. Lucie just after 2 p.m.“One of the students approached one of our FHP troopers and showed a text message reference a bomb threat in one of the charter/school buses,” an FHP spokesperson said in a news release.Police have not released exactly what was said in the text, but they evacuated the service plaza and shut down the Turnpike in the area while they investigated.“It’s frightening. It’s intimidating,” said Josephine Gon, of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County. “It potentially could be lethal.”Gon said her organization has seen an “exorbitant” amount of antisemitic threats over the last few months.“It’s part of a pattern of harassment and intimidation even if it’s not a real threat,” she said. That was the case in this instance.Investigators did not find a bomb on either of the two buses.They also checked another bus from the school, which had stopped at the Fort Drum service plaza.Police in Miami swept the school itself.Nothing was found in any of the locations.“This is a threat to our freedom to live in safety and security,” Gon said. “And everybody should be concerned about that.”Investigators are still trying to figure out who made the threat.Top headlinesThis is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25 Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. —
A Florida Turnpike service plaza was evacuated for hours Friday afternoon as police investigated a bomb threat made to two buses of students from a Jewish Community Center in Miami.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the students from the Michael Ann Russell JCC stopped at the service plaza in Port St. Lucie just after 2 p.m.
“One of the students approached one of our FHP troopers and showed a…
