For the second day in a row, local law enforcement and bomb-sniffing canine units were dispatched to a local school after a bomb threat. Shortly before 8 a.m., Columbus Middle School was placed on alert.
According to Columbus Police Department Investigator Raymond Hackler, 911 received a phone call reporting a sniper threat at 7:58 a.m. from a person who sounded like a young male.
“The caller said, if any teacher tried to leave, he would shoot,” Hackler said. “The caller said if any student tries to leave, he”d blow up the school, and he did have bombs.”
The threat was cleared and students filled the building at around 12:30 p.m. Many parents signed out their children.
At 8:37 a.m., authorities announced all students were to evacuate into the parking lot.
CPD officer Terrie Songer said students were safe, and the campus was secured.
According to Craig Shannon, deputy superintendent for CMSD, the FBI was on the site and said they had obtained the phone number of the caller.
Thursday afternoon, the New Hope High School campus was evacuated due to a bomb threat called in to 911 shortly after the school”s regular dismissal.
Two calls were placed to 911 at approximately 3:08 p.m. stating there was a bomb at the school. Lowndes County Sheriff”s Office Chief Deputy Greg Wright said the caller sounded like a juvenile, and there was the sound of children”s voices in the background.
School normally dismisses at 3 p.m., so many students had already left the campus by bus or private car. The remaining students and teachers were routed to the football field while deputies waited for two canine units from Columbus Air Force Base and two from Mississippi Highway Patrol to search the elementary school, middle school and high school in search of explosives.
Wright said Friday morning that no trace of explosives was found.
Wright said no suspicious packages, items or people had been reported, but every threat must be thoroughly investigated. He added that nearly every campus has had bomb threats in the past, and some of those threats have resulted in arrests. Making a bomb threat, even if it is fictitious, is a felony.
“It”s a serious crime,” Wright said. “It”s not just a prank you want to do.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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