JCC in Rochester evacuated following bomb threat

Marcy Oster
Published March 7, 2017

(JTA) — The Jewish Community Center in Rochester, New York was evacuated early Tuesday morning due to a bomb threat.

The evacuation of members and staff was ordered shortly before 6 a.m., the local ABC affiliate 13WHAM reported.

Police reportedly were on the scene.

The bomb threat comes less than a week after at least five headstones were toppled at the Waad Hakolel Cemetery, also known as the Stone Road Cemetery, in Rochester.

More than 100 Jewish institutions, mostly JCCs, have received bomb threats since the beginning of the year. The last two weeks saw vandalism at Jewish cemeteries in Philadelphia, St. Louis and Rochester, New York, as well as two more waves of bomb threats called into JCCs, schools and institutions across the country, representing the fourth and fifth waves of such harassment this year. No explosive device was found after any of the calls.