Edmonds Police investigate threatening calls targeting daycare centers



EDMONDS, Wash. -- Authorities are looking for a man who made violent, threatening phone calls toward daycare centers in Edmonds on Monday.

Edmonds Police say five facilities received calls.  While they aren't sure if the threats are credible, they are taking them very seriously.

"We can't guarantee there's no threat until we find this person," said Edmonds Police Sgt. Josh McClure.

The calls targeted child care centers in the 24300 block of 76th Avenue, the 8000 block of 240th Street SW, the 7800 block of 196th Street SW, the 21300 block of 80th Avenue W. and the 600 block of Edmonds Way. Police say they investigated all five facilities and that no injuries were reported.

"These phone calls were coming through some sort of message app, so it's been difficult to pin down the suspect," McClure said. "However, we did have an extensive phone conversation with him."

McClure says some calls were also made to 911, and a detective actually spoke to the suspect for about half an hour.

"There were threats to shoot at the location, there were threats to harm people. The threats were graphic," McClure said. "They continued to get more violent and increasingly hostile... Prank phone calls are one thing, but this appears to be a very coordinated effort to cause fear."

McClure said all five daycare facilities went into lockdown until police could determine there was no actual suspect or threat at the scene.

"We are skeptical in how this might be carried out, but at the same time until we have this person identified and we have him with us we can't say for certain that there isn't a possibility for violence," he said.

Investigators say it will be up to the child care centers to decide whether they will open for business Tuesday. Police will have extra patrols around the centers.