A minor has been detained over a bomb threat to a Utah high school, which forced students to evacuate.
Ben Lomond High School in Ogden was targeted in a bomb threat that local Police Captain Tim Scott called “beyond the scale of a hoax.”
Police responded to the bomb threat last Thursday, clearing students from the school “almost immediately,” Scott told reporters at the time.
There was a large police presence at the school with Ogden firefighters as well as a “drone team, K-9 officers and our metro SWAT team,” Scott said.
Ogden Police said the school was fully cleared by late Thursday afternoon, and no explosives were found.
“All students are safe and were safely reunited with their families,” a Facebook post read.
Nearly a week after the terrifying incident, police announced they had identified an out-of-state boy as a suspect in the bomb threat.
“The suspect was located in Washington State and detained,” a statement issued Tuesday read.
Lieutenant William Farr with Ogden Police told the Standard-Examiner the boy was not a student at Ben Lomond High School.
It’s unclear what connection, if any, the boy had to the school. The Independent has reached out to Ogden Police for comment.
When asked why the bomb threat was not treated as a hoax, Scott said Thursday, “There is investigative information that we have that tells us this is not a hoax. That we actually did have an active threat at the school.”
The Ogden School District told the Standard-Examiner Tuesday, “It reaffirms the great confidence in our local law enforcement to see that they have the drive and the means to pursue and identify those who threaten the safety of our schools, even when the source originates outside of Ogden City or outside of Utah.”
The school district added that it was “very pleased” with the response to the bomb threat, adding, “School employees and students followed their training and carried out the emergency response protocol quickly and calmly.”
Also on Tuesday, there was a shooting near the Ben Lomond High School, in which a 16-year-old was killed. Scott told reporters the incident was “not connected in any way” to the bomb threat. Police have yet to identify a suspect in the shooting.
