Threat Closes Pa. Community College

MEDIA, Pa. – An e-mail message threatening violence against a community college led officials to close all five of its campuses Monday for a third day of classes.

The e-mail was sent to a number of people affiliated with Delaware County Community College, and police said the violence was to happen on two campuses in neighboring Chester County.

The campuses will remain shut down Tuesday, college president Jerome S. Parker said Monday after a meeting between school representatives and law enforcement officials. College officials hoped to reopen Wednesday.

The e-mail was sent from a wireless Internet system used by libraries and schools in Chester County and is difficult to trace, West Whiteland Township Police Chief Ralph Burton said.

Officials decided to close all the campuses in part because of the massacre at Virginia Tech, where a gunman killed 32 people and himself in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.

The college serves about 10,000 students in Delaware County, outside Philadelphia.

(This version CORRECTS that a single e-mail message was sent to a number of people affiliated with the college, instead of a series of e-mails.)