Bomb threats at school, business prompt lockdown, police searches
An anonymous bomb threat against a local school district and a business received by Hot Springs police early Wednesday morning prompted a lockdown at the school and separate searches of each location, police Cpl. Joey Williams, public relations officer, said.
“This morning, we received an email through our anonymous tip line threatening to set off bombs at Lakeside School District and Xpress Boats,” he said. “We immediately contacted Lakeside officials and came up with a plan of action.”
Officers converged on the school and first searched and cleared the district’s safe rooms so they could move all the students and staff members into the rooms while they searched the rest of the school, he said.
“We went all over the campus, searching every building and every room making sure everything was safe and secure,” Williams said, noting a special bomb-detecting dog from North Little Rock was brought in to assist in the search.
While police searched the school, Garland County Sheriff’s Department deputies and investigators responded to Xpress Boats, 199 Extrusion Place, off Industrial Park Road, to conduct a search of the premises there.
Williams said nothing was found at either location and noted they have identified a person of interest in the incident, but stressed, “The investigation is still ongoing and we are continuing to follow up on leads in the case.”
Williams noted while they did not feel the threat “had any credibility, we always take threats like this seriously.”
Lakeside Superintendent Shawn Cook said Hot Springs Police Chief Jason Stachey arrived on campus at around 8:30 a.m. and the district worked with the police department to “figure out exactly what the threat was with the police department because they got the call; we didn’t.”
During the investigation, Cook said a student was questioned.
“The police department first went and cleared all the tornado shelters so we could send our kids there because we didn’t want to send them outside where they could get shot or be put in danger,” Cook said. “The shelters can be cleared faster because they’re just like a big open gymnasium.”
Cook said students were dismissed to the shelters as they would be for a drill because “that was the best way to handle it since they’re used to these kinds of drills and know what to do.”
Cook said once students were secured, police searched every room on campus. Students were fed lunch around 12:30 p.m., and Cook commended cafeteria workers across campus for feeding every student.
“We felt like the risk was probably minimal, but safety is always going to be our first priority with our kids,” he said. “We’re just blessed to have all these tornado shelters on campus because they can take an impact.”
The campuswide lockdown was lifted at 1:54 p.m., according to a notification through the district’s mobile app.
At 2:25 p.m., the school issued a notification stating “our alert system carrier is having issues regarding voice calls and they are coming through delayed.”
Williams said anyone with any information about the threat should contact police at 321-6789.