The third bomb threat of the school year interrupted classes at Columbus High School Wednesday, and a 17-year-old suspect was arrested, Columbus Police Chief Selvain McQueen said Wednesday evening.
Police believe the juvenile is responsible for Wednesday’s threat, as well as the threat against CHS a week ago.
McQueen confirmed that the juvenile is a student but declined to say which school he attends. He has been charged with two counts of false reporting of a bomb. He is currently being held at the Lowndes County Juvenile Detention Center.
The threat was called in to 911 at approximately 10:12 a.m., McQueen said. No explosives were found.
As three bomb-sniffing dogs from Columbus Air Force Base and Mississippi Highway Patrol searched the building, the school district’s Interim Superintendent Dr. Martha Liddell, Deputy Superintendent Craig Shannon and public information officer Janet Lewis stood on the track and watched what was an orderly — though logistically challenging — evacuation and dismissal process.
The school’s safety plan calls for the 1,300 students to be evacuated to the football field or, in case of rain, to Fairview Baptist Church.
Parents were allowed to pick up their children at the football field gate after showing credentials. Students who rode buses home were released at 1:15 p.m.
“We’ve got to find out who’s doing (these), because this is really hurting our instructional time,” Liddell said, adding that she has been in touch with districts that have faced similar situations, but it’s a difficult problem to combat. She said if the culprit is a student at one of the district’s schools, they face expulsion.
Callers who place threats also face legal ramifications. The maximum penalty for a false bomb threat is 10 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections and a $10,000 fine.
In September, Lowndes County sheriff’s deputies, in conjunction with U.S. Marshals, arrested three juveniles in connection with a bomb threat at New Hope High School and Columbus Middle School.
New Hope has had two threats this year, one in September and one in January. Columbus Middle School had one threat in September, and Columbus High School has had two previous threats — one on Feb. 16 and one on Jan. 27. So far, no explosive devices have been discovered at any of the incidents.
“We are very disappointed and frustrated with some member of our community who keeps calling and disrupting the educational process for our students,” Shannon said. “We will find out who this is and prosecute to the full extent of the law.”
Liddell said she plans to ask local law enforcement if they can solicit assistance from the FBI to find the culprits and alleviate what has become an ongoing issue.
According to the National School Safety and Security Services, an independent Cleveland-based school safety consulting firm, a Maryland school district experienced more than 150 bomb threats and 55 associated arrests in one school year.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) reported 1,055 incidents of bombs, or suspected bombs, being placed on school premises across the U.S. between January 1990 and February 2002. Of those incidents, only 14 were accompanied by a warning to school officials or other authorities.
However, incidents involving real bombs are relatively rare, according to ATF.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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