NEW YORK — Investigators are still searching for the source of threatening e-mails sent to state lawmakers last Friday.

New York state homeland security and counter-terrorism officials said that the e-mails, which threaten the lives of politicians, reporters and children on school buses, are not credible.

School districts were notified about the improbability of the threat late Wednesday morning in an e-mail from the state Department of Education, the Smithtown Patch reports. According the department e-mail, authorities are still investigating the threat, but they do not consider it credible.

The e-mails, which had the subject line, "A Time to Kill," were sent by a person claiming to be a state employee, the Long Island News reports. In the messages, the sender expressed the desire to create anarchy.

In one of the e-mails — which were all similar in content, according to New York State Police — the sender wrote, "If we attack a school bus full of kids, it may have no effect on the hardened criminals who rule Albany, but it will put the public in an uproar."

School districts were put on alert shortly after the e-mails were received by lawmakers. The state Department of Education asked transportation directors to look for unknown individuals or odd behavior on bus routes, according to the Smithtown Patch.   

Smithtown (N.Y.) Central School District Superintendent Edward Ehmann told the Smithtown Patch that the district is in constant communication with its transportation vendors to ensure that employees are following strict protocols in checking for suspicious behavior.