A senior at Forest Park High School was arrested for making a phony bomb threat that forced an evacuation and response from several law enforcement agencies.
The 17-year-old, whose name was not released, was charged with terroristic threats, criminal trespass and disruption of a public school, according to Vicki Constantinides, spokeswoman for Clayton County schools. Investigators believe it was a prank, but police and fire personnel took the situation very seriously, deploying bomb technicians and a K-9 to search the school around 3 p.m. Tuesday as classes were being dismissed.
Some students were evacuated to a nearby middle school and a reverse 911 call was sent to parents while both Forest Park and Clayton County police and fire departments searched the school. Nothing was located during the searches.
Despite the arrest, school officials are hopeful the teenager can move past the incident and complete his senior year.
“He was a student in good standing, but he must face the consequences,” Constantinides told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He is very remorseful.”
The bomb threat was the second of two disruptions at the school Tuesday, but the two incidents are not related, Constantinides said.
Tuesday morning, Forest Park High was temporarily placed on lockdown after two students reported a classmate had a weapon, the school's principal said.
“The student in question was placed in custody and searched,” Principal Derrick Manning stated in a letter on the school’s website. “The student was found in possession of a BB pistol.”
The name of the student accused of bringing the weapon to school was not released.
—Fran Jeffries contributed to this report.
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