The eighth bomb threat of the school year occurred this morning, three days after a bomb threat at Columbus High School.
Billie Smith, principal of Fairview Elementary Aerospace and Science Magnet School, told Columbus Police that the school received a call around 8:40 a.m. stating there was a bomb on the premises.
All students were evacuated to Fairview Baptist Church, where parents were being allowed to pick up their children. Columbus Police and Columbus Fire and Rescue were on the scene, securing the perimeter and waiting for a canine unit to arrive to inspect the school.
This is the first bomb threat that has occurred at an elementary school this year.
Columbus High School has received four threats — March 6, Feb. 22, Feb. 16 and Jan. 27. In September, Lowndes County sheriff’s deputies arrested three juveniles in connection with two bomb threats at New Hope High School and one at Columbus Middle School.
No explosive devices have been found at any of the schools.
Callers who place threats 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.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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