The Clark County Sheriff’s Office reports a 16-year-old female student from New Carlisle has been charged with delinquency inducing panic after a threat to “blow up” the school was located Friday written in one of the building’s bathrooms.
As a result of that threat, the school was evacuated and a search was conducted. No valid threats were found at the school.
When sheriff’s investigators returned to the high school Monday to make contact with the female student, the school administration alerted police of a second threat written on the wall of another bathroom.
“Due to the diligence of staff and the preventive measures put in place by Tecumseh’s administration, investigators were able to quickly narrow down the responsible suspect, confirm that it was a hoax and avoid evacuating the school,” said Lt. Christopher D Clark in a release.
The suspect was identified as a 14-year-old male student of Donnelsville, Ohio. He is charged with delinquency criminal mischief.
Both suspects are in custody.
UPDATE @ 5:51 p.m. (Oct. 16)
Tecumseh High School administrators evacuated the school Friday after a threat was found written in pencil inside the girls restroom.
The incident was reported around 9:15 a.m. when school staff advised that a written note was found and that the threat indicated the possible presence of a device inside, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
Three explosives detection dogs from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Dayton Airport Police did not find any device during a sweep of the building, said Sgt. Christopher Schultz of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
“The students were then allowed to return back to class (at 11:55 a.m.) to continue with the rest of their day. The incident is still currently under investigation by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office,” Schultz said.
Clark County Chief Deputy Doyle Wright said tests on Friday may have been the motivation behind the threat.
Wright said officials have surveillance video of several students going in and out of the bathroom and plan talk to those students to determine who is responsible for the threat.
High school students were moved to the stadium. Tecumseh Middle School was locked down as a precaution by district administrators, he said.
Parent Amy Owens came to pick up her son at Tecumseh High School.
“I was at work and my son had called and said there was a bomb threat up here at Tecumseh and that he didn’t feel comfortable staying at school,” Owens said.
The mother of two Tecumseh students said it’s scary that her children can be in danger and she is not there to protect them at school.
“All these bomb threats are happening; hopefully they find out who did it,” Owens said. “I’d like to know that my kids are safe when they’re at school.”
Tecumseh Superintendent Norm Glismann expressed frustration about the incident.
“Over 1,100 people were inconvenienced this morning for two hours. Today is the last day of the quarter. Students need to turn stuff in. The timing was not good, but it’s simply not a joke. It’s not a prank. It’s very serious. We had six or seven officers in our building that had to be here in our building that couldn’t be somewhere else,” Glissman said.
Wright said officials have received several bomb threats at area schools that turn out to be a hoax, but he said officials continue to take all reports seriously “until they turn out not to be.”
“Often times when these occur, their hope is whatever the activities of the day will be cancelled and potentially they’ll cancel school and send them home. I think the schools have wised up to that,” Wright said.
He said the student responsible for the threat will likely be charged with inducing panic, a misdemeanor.
“People who do this need to be held accountable for their actions. This disrupted an entire day of school,” Wright said, adding that the students were an hour and a half late in getting lunch “all because somebody didn’t want to do tests today.”
Anyone with information about the threat is urged to contact the sheriff’s office.
UPDATE @ 12:55 p.m. (Oct. 16)
Tecumseh High School administrators evacuated the school after a threat was found written inside the school, said Sgt. Christopher Schultz of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident was reported around 9:15 a.m. Explosives detection dogs from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Dayton Airport Police did not find any device today at Tecumseh High School during a sweep of the building, the sergeant said.
“The students were then allowed to return back to class to continue with the rest of their day. The incident is still currently under investigation by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office,” Schultz said.
Tecumseh Middle School was locked down as a precaution by district administrators, he said.
Parent Amy Owens came to pick up her son at Tecumseh High School.
“I was at work and my son had called and said there was a bomb threat up here at Tecumseh and that he didn’t feel comfortable staying at school,” Owens said.
The mother of two Tecumseh students said it’s scary that her children can be in danger and she is not there to protect them at school.
“All these bomb threats are happening, hopefully they find out who did it,” Owens said. “I’d like to know that my kids are safe when they’re at school.”
Anyone with information about the threat is urged to contact the sheriff’s office.
UPDATE @ 12:03 p.m. (Oct. 16)
The lockdown has been lifted at Tecumseh Middle School, according to officials.
The all-clear has been given at the high school and students are returning to class, officials said.
UPDATE @11:09 a.m. (Oct. 16)
We are getting reports that Tecumseh Middle School is now on lockdown, and school officials have not said why. We will continue to monitor the situation and bring you the latest information as soon as it become available.
First report (Oct. 16)
Tecumseh High School near New Carlisle in Clark County has been evacuated, and students and staff are gathered on the football field.
School officials declined to say why the school was evacuated, however, Clark County Sheriff’s deputies are on the scene.
We have a reporter on the way to the scene, and we’ll bring you the latest information as it become available.
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