Bomb threats force evacuations of 2 Orlando-area Jewish institutions

Police searched a Chabad center and a JCC that houses a preschool and did not find any explosives.

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(JTA) — Two Orlando-area Jewish community institutions had to be evacuated after receiving separate bomb threats.

The threats were called in mid-morning Wednesday to the Chabad Center of Jewish Life of South Orlando and the Roth Jewish Community Center.

The call to the Roth JCC suggested that the explosive device might be planted in the Holocaust Resource and Education Center that adjoins the JCC, according to the local TV station WESH.

About 40 people were evacuated from the Chabad building, which houses a preschool. The JCC and Holocaust museum also were evacuated. A local elementary school in the central Florida city located very near the JCC also was evacuated.

Police did not find any explosives in their search of the threatened sites, according to reports.

The threats do not rise to the level of a hate crime, police told the local Fox affiliate.

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