HOWELL — An eighth-grade student at Howell Middle School South, Ramtown-Greenville Road, has been charged by police with being responsible for the posting of a bomb threat at the school on Jan. 16.
According to police, the male juvenile who was charged was the person who reported to a staff member that he found the words, "There is a bomb in the blue house, I’m not kidding," written on a second-floor boys’ bathroom wall.
The term blue house refers to a section of the school.
Derogatory statements about school staff members and students were also found written on the same wall.
According to Principal Tom Feaster, police were immediately notified, and because the message was reported toward the end of the school day, all students were evacuated with their books and belongings and sent home 30 minutes early.
The evacuation of the school which houses pupils in grades six, seven and eight was done one grade at a time, according to Feaster, because the credibility of the threat was determined by officials not to be significant. The principal said it was decided the evacuation could be carried out in a more orderly fashion if the entire school was not emptied all at once.
The police response at the school included the Howell K-9 unit which conducted a complete search of the building and found no explosives.
A subsequent investigation by Detective Eric Rice, Detective John Weg, Detective Dan Raimondi and Patrolman Greg Howell resulted in the 14-year-old juvenile being charged with making terroristic threats, causing false public alarm and criminal mischief. The boy was released to the custody of his parents following the filing of charges.