The Silver Spring Penguin

A handful of threats, as well as the anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings, prompted Montgomery County police to increase their presence at public schools Friday, the third district’s top cop said.

Commander Betsy Davis told the urban district advisory board Thursday that more cops would be seen at every school on Friday. The increased police presence, Davis said, was in response to threats made earlier in the week.

“We have to take these threats as real,” Davis said.

In one instance, a bomb threat was phoned into a Wheaton school. In another, police responded to a Takoma Park school after one student made threatening remarks, Davis said.

In Gaithersburg, one man was arrested Wednesday for phoning his son’s elementary school and allegedly threatening to repeat last Monday’s Virginia Tech shootings. Forty-year-old Larry D. Moore, Sr., of Carousel Court, was busted after school administrators notified local police, according to a police press statement.

Friday also marked the eighth anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Thirteen students, including two teen gunmen, died in that attack.

In Virginia, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) declared Friday a statewide day of mourning for victims of the shootings at Virginia Tech. Police in Blacksburg believe one student killed 32 people there before shooting himself.