Schools in Charlottesville, Virginia have been placed on lockdown after the FBI warned local police about internet comments wishing for a Las Vegas-style shooting in the city.
The FBI had “received information from a post made on a social media message board expressing discontent with recent events in Charlottesville," the city said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The person(s) who posted the message also referenced the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas and expressed their admiration of the shooter. They went on to say that Charlottesville, in particular, schools within the city, should be the next target," the city authorities added.
Officers have been stationed at every public school in the city, and “many” of the private schools, WVIR reported. A note sent to parents by the school board to says that students will remain indoors and "will have adult or police supervision when they need to go outside."
No details were given about the identity of the person making the threat, or the online forum in which it was posted.
Charlottesville was the site of violent clashes between white nationalists and counter-protesters on August 12. One person was killed and 19 injured when a car driven by a white nationalist sympathizer drove into a crowd of counter-protesters later that day. Two Virginia state troopers also died when their helicopter crashed while observing the violence.
White nationalists organized another torchlight march in the city on Sunday, which ended without incident. On Tuesday, however, a group of activists interrupted the city planning commission meeting in protest over the arrest of DeAndre Harris, a counter-protester charged with assault at the August rally.
On October 1, a gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 58 and injuring almost 500 people at a country music festival. The attacker was identified as Stephen Paddock, 64. His motives remain unknown.