Gang Initiation E-mail Hoax Spreads Fear

By LAUREN PETTY

Updated 6:43 AM EDT, Thu, Oct 29, 2009

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Kelene Bolden, of East Hartford, was surprised by the text message she got on Wednesday. It read, “Gang initiation starts today from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. They are planning to kill any female on the street. Pass the word.”

“I read it and closed my phone and put it away and then I was like, 'What if that was real? What if that was serious? What if someone is out there?'” Bolden said.

It seems that many people got the same message, warning about gangs going after women in a gang-initiation killing spree.

It wasn’t just passed on via text message, but also through e-mails and on Twitter.

“I didn’t want to be one of those people who would forward such a message to scare people," Boldon said, so she did not pass the message to her friends and family.

"Someone at my job was talking about it. They wouldn’t let their daughter go out that day, cause they were so afraid.”

But many people did forward the text and e-mail messages, and contacted the NBC Connecticut newsroom to see if the threat was legitimate.

One viewer wanted to know if our newsroom could, “verify these stories”.

A nurse in Hartford wrote, “There are several anxious women at Hartford Hospital!”

Hartford Police Chief Daryl Roberts said Wednesday he received calls from parents whose children received the alarming message.

"I wish to assure them and the public in general that we have investigated the situation and found no credibility to the messages," Roberts said. "However, as I take any and all threats to public safety very seriously, I have instructed our Intelligence Division to continue to monitor the situation."

Bolden hopes police find the person who started the hype and put women in Hartford on edge.

“How do you not know the original source? Can’t they just find out who is sending out these weird messages? It’s doing nothing but scaring people,” Bolden said.

Earlier this month, Hartford city officials acknowledged gang activity in city schools when it asked for federal money to fight the problem.

That news, combined with the scary messages, was enough to worry some people, but Hartford police say it was all just a hoax. People in other cities, including a couple in New Jersey, have received the same text and police there also said there were no credible threats.