Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta targeted by bomb threat

ATLANTA - Spring Street has returned to normal after a bomb threat at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta forced the busy Midtown roadway to be shut down and several buildings to be evacuated.

The call came in shortly before 3 p.m. to the Jewish community center in Midtown Atlanta.

"We were told there were bombs in the building, and they would detonate in 20 minutes, and we needed to vacate," said Eric Robbins.

Robbins, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, says he is always on high alert. So, when Atlanta Police called him about 2:30 p.m. to inform of this bomb threat, he says they immediately started following protocol.

They evacuated the building. Police closed several streets in the area and the bomb sniffing dogs moved in and went to work.

The CEO says he was instructed not to give a lot of details or specifics about the threat.

"It's a very unfortunate reality of running a Jewish institution right now, that there are idiots out there that do this sort of thing, but obviously we have to take every threat seriously and hopefully, it's nothing, and we can get back to business as usual, but we're taking every precaution we should in this situation," said Robbins.

Robbins said Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum was on the scene and talked with the employees and reassured them that the threat had passed.

"There are idiots out there who do this sort of thing, but we have to take every threat seriously," Robbins said.

The location is a block south of the site of a 1958 bombing of the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple. While it might seem a thing of the past, antisemitism has been prevalent recently with a series of flyers being unwontedly delivered to area residents over the past few years, mostly only stoking fears.

"It’s a very unfortunate reality of running a Jewish institution right now," Robbins said.

The Atlanta Police Department says they are continuing to investigate.