Police say gang threat was hoax

HARTFORD, Conn. - Hartford Police Chief Daryl Roberts says a reported gang initiation that threatened to kill 140 women was a hoax.

The threats were made in recent e-mails, text messages and Internet postings and put many in the city on edge.

Parents whose children received the messages called police, and there were reports of people being afraid to go outside Wednesday.

Roberts says he wants to assure the public that police investigated and found no credibility to the messages.

But he says the department's intelligence division will continue to monitor the situation.

Police in other parts of the country say the same messages have turned up in their cities, but they also believe it's just a hoax.