Update: The bomb threat was cleared at approximately 3:00 p.m.
Previously: As of 11:50 a.m., parents and family members continued to pick up Columbus High School students from Fairview Baptist Church after a bomb threat was called in at about 9:30 this morning.
Cars lined the streets near the school, as people attempted to pick up students there, but they were diverted to the church, where buses were transporting the school’s more than 1,200 students until the threat was cleared.
The Columbus Police Department, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and Columbus Fire Department were on the scene. At about 10:55 a.m., bomb-sniffing dogs from Columbus Air Force Base had arrived to sweep the area.
It is the second bomb threat at the school this year. The school was evacuated in late January for a false bomb threat.
The maximum penalty for a false bomb threat is 10 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections and a $10,000 fine.
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