BATON ROUGE - A bomb threat that shut down Baton Rouge High and triggered a chain reaction of closures at neighboring campuses was likely connected to a string of similar calls placed at other schools around the state, police said Wednesday.

Catholic High — which is located less than a block from Baton Rouge High — was also placed on lockdown as a precaution, administrators told WBRZ. St. Joseph's Academy was under a lockdown protocol as well in response to the situation at Baton Rouge High. 

Government Street and North Acadian Thruway were closed in the area of those campuses as police investigated the threat.

Baton Rouge Police told WBRZ the threat was called in at Baton Rouge High sometime Wednesday. The caller claimed they had an explosive device and a gun, according to police.

During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, BRPD Chief Murphy Paul said that similar calls were recently made to schools in the Denham Springs, Houma and New Orleans areas. The Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office reported that it responded to a similar call sometime Wednesday. 

Officials declared the campus was safe around 2:30 p.m.