Local news programs have just broken into broadcasting to announce an "active situation" at Olmsted Falls High School in NE Ohio. Police are establishing a perimeter.
I know this isn't a full diary, but if you are a parent or relative of a student, faculty member, or staff member at the school I wanted to put the information out there to the largest audience to which I have access.
No details are being provided and no indication of what "active situation" means at this time. I will follow the story and add updates as they become available.
Again, police in Olmsted Falls, OH have announced an "active situation" at the high school and are establishing a perimeter. It is a very small, upper middle class community of about 9,000 people. Please keep them in your thoughts.
8:40 AM The situation is the result of a bomb threat according to one mother who received a text from her daughter. Police and fire are on scene. High school students are being evacuated to the middle school where parents can pick up their kid/s.
8:54 AM Sources have confirmed that it is a bomb threat and that bomb sniffing K-9 units are currently inside the building. All students have been evacuated to the middle school.
9:01 AM Students are reporting to their parents that the bomb threat was written on a bathroom stall. School has been cancelled for the day.
9:51 AM No reports of any significance are being made, which is a good thing. Students are being released to their parents and/or family members. No other schools were evacuated. There will be a news conference at 11 AM to provide further information.
11:15 AM In a news conference, the school superintendent and other officials reported that the building has been cleared and that a criminal investigation has been commenced. The threat was written on a girls' bathroom wall in the athletic wing of the school The threat read "Beware of me. I have planted bombs all over the school. Happy hunting." with a few expletives tacked on but not repeated. No suspects have been identified as yet. Parents were notified via the school's alert system using e-mail and voicemail.
While the reaction to this story my appear to be a tempest in a teapot, as I've said elsewhere, we live less than an hour west of Chardon, OH, the scene of a multiple fatality school shooting last spring. Closer to us, the Orange School District dealt with a rash of bomb threats last year. While no bombs were ever found there was a great deal of fear amongst students, teachers and parents for the better part of 6 weeks. The perpetrators of those threats were eventually found and prosecuted thankfully.
Police and fire response in this instance is what we should each expect were the situation to happen in our own neighborhood.