WILLMAR -- Halloween started with a real scare at the Willmar Junior High School Tuesday morning after a bomb threat prompted the evacuation of hundreds of students, eventually leading to the arrest of a 13-year-old boy.
The school was evacuated around 10:15 a.m. after a note containing a threat of a bomb was found in the school. The Willmar Police Department was notified of the written message containing the threat at 10:08 a.m., according to a news release from the Police Department Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities from the Police Department, Minnesota State Patrol and Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Department searched the school, while the school's 650 students and 100 staff members were evacuated to nearby Calvary Lutheran and First Baptist churches. Classrooms and lockers were searched but no evidence of a bomb or device was found in the building.
Further investigation by school officials and authorities lead to the arrest of the teen, who is a student at the school. He is facing charges of terroristic threats. He was released into the custody of his family later in the day, Willmar Police Officer Michael Markkanen said.
Markkanen said the note was found in the boys' bathroom, but would not comment on how it was linked to the teen.
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"Our investigation is not complete yet," he said. "I'm not willing at this point to get into how we developed him as a suspect."
A news release from the School District stated that the investigation concluded with a student confessing to writing the threat and confirming that a bomb was not present.
Although the jolt from the bomb scare interrupted morning classes, students and staff returned to the building and resumed classes at 11:30 a.m.
"The good news is we were able to do our investigative process, pinpoint who the student is, and we were able to go on with school," said Acting Principal Mark Miley after school was dismissed for the day.
The school followed its lunch schedule and went on with classes for the rest of the day, Miley said. He used the intercom to announce the schedule for the rest of the day and to tell students and staff that he was pleased with how they had handled the situation.
Willmar Police Chief Jim Kulset said there is usually at least one bomb threat a year. While law enforcement authorities are involved in each threat, Kulset said the schools are in charge of how evacuations are initiated and when authorities are called in.
"We do the criminal investigation part of it," Kulset said.
And schools do a lot in the way of preparing for incidents like Tuesday's bomb threat. Each year schools are required to run five fire drills, five lockdown drills and an evacuation drill.
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The Junior High completed its evacuation drill on Oct. 13, Miley said. At that time, students and staff made the trip to the churches, and students were instructed on procedures and "how to behave at the sites."
On Tuesday the evacuation was real, but students and staff handled the evacuation very well, Miley said.
"The students were very responsible and took it seriously," he said. "(The staff) handled it very professionally."
Miley said he went to both churches, which were very cooperative during the situation.
"The students were very much in control along with the staff," he said. "If you remain relaxed, they do, too."
