McDonald County High School students were back in their classrooms late this morning after a bomb threat forced the evacuation of the school for at least two hours.
Meanwhile, a 17-year-old rural Lanagan girl was arrested at about 11:30 a.m. today in connection with the incident, according to McDonald County Undersheriff Gregg Sweeten.
According to Randy Smith, superintendent of the McDonald County R-1 School District, the school received a call at about 8:05 a.m. today from a female subject who said there was a bomb inside.
“She said ‘There’s a bomb in the building, and you need to make everybody leave,’ ” Sweeten said.
Students had just entered the building for classes and were first evacuated to Anderson’s First Baptist Church, located across the roadway from the high school on Missouri Highway 59, Smith said.
“Our buses met the students at the church, taking a third of them to Anderson Elementary, a third to Anderson Middle School and a third of them remained at First Baptist Church’s gymnasium,” Smith said.
Meanwhile, authorities with the McDonald County Sheriff’s Department, the Anderson police and fire departments, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol did a sweep of the building. Joining in the search were Smith, Assistant Superintendent Dick Davis, and building administrators, who opened lockers and classrooms so agents could thoroughly search the building.
“We did a thorough search, then notified Bentonville, who responded with two canine officers,” said Sweeten.
The dogs specialize in sniffing out explosives, Sweeten said.
“We went through and did everything again with the canines, and deemed the school safe for everyone,” the chief deputy said.
“Fortunately, we didn’t find anything,” Smith added.
Teachers were then called back into the building to double-check their classrooms to see if anything was amiss.
After at least two hours, an all-clear signal was given and students were taken back to the high school. There, students, parents and staff met together in the gymnasium to get an assessment on the situation.
“When we were sure it was 100 percent safe, we sent everyone back to class,” Smith said.
Smith praised his staff, not only at the high school, but at Anderson Elementary and the middle school as well. He also had praise for law enforcement officers.
“I can’t say enough about them,” he said. “They were outstanding. This is not a situation we want to face, or face again. I can’t say enough about the job done by everyone involved.”
Charges of making a terroristic threat, a Class D felony, are pending and are expected later today. The teen’s name is not being released pending the filing of formal charges.
