Updated 11:50 a.m.
A third bomb threat was allegedly made Wednesday, this time at Whiteville High School, according to sheriff’s reports.
The sheriff’s office daily incident summary for Wednesday shows that deputies were called to Whiteville High at 1:08 p.m. after a 16 year old white male student allegedly made “terroristic threats”. The sheriff’s office referred requests for further information to the city school system.
Superintendent Jonathan Williams said the principal contacted the parents in yesterday’s incident at the high school.
“The threat came near the end of the day,” he said. “It was turned over to the SRO (school resource officer) and they advised from there. It is in their hands and I cannot comment further, other than we take safety very seriously and we will vigorously investigate any threat.”
The threat was the fourth bomb scare yesterday at a school in Columbus, coming after Monday’s evacuation of all four city schools due to an emailed threat to the system. Central Middle was evacuated just after opening time Wednesday, and a sixth grader detained. The suspect was turned over to his parents when Juvenile Justice refused to seek a petition.
West Columbus High and West Columbus School were also both briefly evacuated at 12:40 p.m. while deputies searched the buildings after a bomb threat at the Cerro Gordo schools. No device was found. WHS Principal Ronna Gore posted on social media that WHS was being released early at 2:15 p.m. because the high school and Central share buses. Williams said law enforcement requested that Central be released early, although no evidence of a credible threat was found at Central.
This is a developing story.
