UPDATE: Police investigate bomb threat at Northridge High School
Northridge High School was placed on lockdown Tuesday, October 7, 2008 after graffiti referencing a bomb was found in the men's restroom. (WSBT photo) MIDDLEBURY — Police were called to Northridge High School Tuesday morning to investigate a message containing a bomb threat. In a letter posted on the school's website, Principal Steven J. Lyng said "Bomb 10/7" was found written in the men’s restroom. Administrators and custodial staff first conducted a sweep of the school and the exterior grounds, according to Lyng, checking for unusual items. The school was placed on lockdown while a bomb sniffing dog conducted an additional sweep. Officers completed their investigation Tuesday afternoon and nothing was found, according to Trevor Wendzonka of the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department. "The measures that were taken today have been precautionary," Lyng said in his statement. "Any evidence of a direct and credible threat would result in a full evacuation of the school." Stay with WSBT.com for updates. Saturday, Oct 11 at 12:35 PM Jennifer wrote ...Does the school have a designated plan for what to do if this situation happens? Maybe its something that needs to be voted on at a board meeting? Everyone has opinions - we should voice them where they will count. I'm very thankful no one was harmed. Friday, Oct 10 at 8:00 AM N wrote ...Next time, could you guys NOT report on this? Something like this happened last year and then all these idiot kids in Laville and Penn and Plymouth all did copycat "threats" and screwed things up for a lot of people. Report when there is a REAL bomb because otherwise kids are going to read this and think 'Hey I can make a threat and get us out of school for the day' and then, like I said, we get all the repeaters like last school year. Thursday, Oct 9 at 8:03 AM Wife of Worker wrote ...My husband is a bricklayer and has been working at this school. I am very angry that the students were all accounted for and the workers were not even ALERTED of the situation! I do not know who is at fault, but I thank the LORD that no one, either student, teacher or worker, was not hurt. Wednesday, Oct 8 at 8:24 PM xxx wrote ...boy don't westveiw look pretty good Wednesday, Oct 8 at 6:08 PM Nrdgemom wrote ...In response to Lisa's question "who knows what kids are up to? The answer should be their parents. My child attends this school. It saddens me that she has to attend school with kids who have no parental control. Somewhere along the timeline there has been a role reversal. Stop being your kids friend and learn to be parents. Kids will talk and eventually the talk will hit the right student and they will turn the person in. Gossip is an angry monster. The guilty will be named. Wednesday, Oct 8 at 5:32 PM check in to it wrote ...JUST HOW MANY CUSTODIANS REALLY KNOW WHAT TO DO IF A BOMB IS FOUND,BESIDES GET THE H-LL OUT.I MYSELF WOULD NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO AND I WORK IN A SCHOOL!AND I WOULD NOT BE HAPPY IF MY KIDS WERE KEPT IN THE SCHOOL. Wednesday, Oct 8 at 2:36 PM My eyes are open wrote ...To the PERSON who said they are ONLY high school kids, Excuse me but these ONLY HIGH SCHOOL students in todays schools are killing their parents, family members, friends,cops, TEACHERS and anyone else who trys to teach them some displine. Where have you been for the last 10 years? These are not the same high school students I went to school with who was EXPELLED for disrespecting teachers let alone threaten them. Yes, these are HIGH SCHOOL KIDS. building should have been cleared b 4 allowed in. Wednesday, Oct 8 at 12:50 PM Concerned Mom wrote ...I am so happy that the safety officer on duty had the common sense to call the police department and the dogs in. Why didn't the High School Adminstratin do that when it was brough to their attention before school started. I would have preferred my child not to have been let into the school until the search was over. Why wasn't there a 2 hour delay? He was in a classroom locked down not knowing what was going on because his teacher would not tell them. I hope they learned by this experience Wednesday, Oct 8 at 11:12 AM Northridge Mom wrote ...I want to reply to the AM N individual that wrote about how legit this is all is.Instruction to make bomb are online check it out right there in plain english....Here is an article published April 2008...Ryan Schallenberger, 18, was arrested after his parents called police when 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate was delivered to their home.The teen planned to make several bombs and had all the supplies needed to kill dozens at Chesterfield High School Now do u believe high schoolers can make bombs?? Wednesday, Oct 8 at 11:09 AM MI resident wrote ...Do any of you know how a lockdown works? Everyone is confined to classroom area. No passes. Doors are closed and locked. No one is allowed in or out of the building. Attendance is taken and any student who is not present is accounted for. All areas are searched by custodial/administrative staff. This is standard procedure for every school in the country. So if the school was on lockdown how can anyone set off a bomb? Your kids were much safer under lockdown than roaming around outside. Wednesday, Oct 8 at 10:52 AM Kim wrote ...I would like to reply to Sue. I have a spouse that is a custodian at the HS. I've never been happy about the fact that he has to search for bombs. He has no training in it what so ever. If anything ever happens to him because of it ----. I would also like to say that I work for County Gov. and when we have had a bomb threat the elected officials nor the department heads search for the bomb. We are evacuated and the officials are called. Wednesday, Oct 8 at 10:23 AM Middlebury Mary wrote ...11:09 well... the students WERE NOT evacuated from the school. They WERE locked down inside the school. Your fiancee needs to stick with electrical wiring because he doesn't know what was going on. Wednesday, Oct 8 at 9:03 AM shg wrote ...n... the boys that did the columbine shooting had set off many bombs prior to the incident. they posted them on the internet. during my training ive watched many high school kids build and detonate bombs. pipe bombs are too simple and cheap to make. the chances are slim but you never want to rule it out. the school did the right thing with the search and then keeping the kids is school. again, plans have been uncovered where attackers would call in a bomb threat and kill the evacuees as they fle Wednesday, Oct 8 at 8:20 AM N wrote ...Seriously how legit can it be? They're high school kids. Show me one high school kid capable enough of actually making a bomb and rigging it to go off and I'll shake the hand of what has to be the smartest high schooler I've ever seen. Wednesday, Oct 8 at 8:18 AM Sue wrote ...I realize kids play pranks to get out of school. BUT, if there had been a real bomb. Do you really think it is fair to the custodians, to search for it? I for one, wouldn't want to be employed, by someone that expects staff to search for a bomb. Wednesday, Oct 8 at 7:37 AM NHM Mom wrote ...As a parent we all want to second guess the administation after the threat. What I can say to them is thank you for doing all you can to send my child home safe. I do appreciate all your hard work. Thank you! Wednesday, Oct 8 at 6:22 AM shg wrote ...the first thing you think is too evacuate, what if the bad guy wants you to evacuate so he can gun you down as you exit in panic and haste. administrators did think about it and used training. not a credible threat, leave them inside. dont send them outside to unknown awaiting threats!!! Wednesday, Oct 8 at 2:18 AM 1998 Grad wrote ...I graduated from this school in 1998. I remember something about a bomb threat going around the rumor mill once or twice. Things like this are not a joke like they were 10 years ago. I do believe I remember the school being evacuated once for this. It’s sad and amazing how much has changed in the last 10 years. I miss my high school days. Tuesday, Oct 7 at 10:09 PM area resident wrote ...sounds like somebodies little brat wanted a day off from school Tuesday, Oct 7 at 10:09 PM well.. wrote ...there are security cameras everywhere in that school. my fiance is an electrician and he is still currently working there. he wired most of them. the students were not locked down in the school. everyone was evacuated including him and the guys he was working with. thank god that no one was hurt. even if this is a false call. everything has to be taken seriously now days. Tuesday, Oct 7 at 9:38 PM past student of north ridge wrote ...It really bothers me that Mr. Lyng did not stop the kids from going in to the school. I graduated in 2007 and when I was attending school their mr.licktingburg knew how to react to situation like this with mr.rasler it sadness me to know that the school board would not have a trained principal who knew how to deal with these things and with my little brother at the school It really makes me very sad to know that he could have been put in harms way God bless that nothing happened to the student Tuesday, Oct 7 at 8:27 PM ??? wrote ...Knife wuz at Intermediate school not middle school Tuesday, Oct 7 at 7:43 PM Middle School Student wrote ...How safe are these schools? I just heard about a knife threat at the middle school! Is this something the student body should be conserned about?I NEED ANSWERS!!! Tuesday, Oct 7 at 7:37 PM Cornfusion wrote ...How can you tell there is a real bomb on the premises? THE WARNING WON'T BE WRITTEN ON A BATHROOM MIRROR! I'll say it again; Cameras IN THE HALL, OUTSIDE THE ENTRANCES TO RESTROOMS! Hall monitors that randomly roam the schools halls. Passes to leave the classroom that specifically indicate where a student is going and then have a hall monitor there waiting to be sure they show up! Make it as hard to get out of a classroom as it is supposed to be to get into the school! Drastic? So what! It works Tuesday, Oct 7 at 6:46 PM i'm just a mom wrote ...i'm sorry but some of these responces are just a little much. by all means lets feed right into this little creeps jokes. i think we should find him and hand him over to a medical hospital because there is no doubt this person needs some real help. son i pray that you get what you need. god bless all of our children and thank you god for bringing them home safe to us. and thank you to each teacher for watching over them today. Tuesday, Oct 7 at 6:42 PM Anonymous wrote ...I HAVE TWO CHILDREN THAT GO TO MIDDLEBURY SHCOOLS ONE IN HIGH SCHOOL THE OTHER IN MIDDLE SCHOOL. ALTHOUGHT I WAS VERY CONCERNED WHEN I READ THIS AND VERY FRIGHTEN FOR MY CHILDREN I HAVE THE UP MOST FAITH IN OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM OUR LAW ENFORCEMENTS AND I KNOW THAT EACH OF THEM CARE FOR OUR CHILDREN AND WOULD NEVER PUT THEM IN HARMS WAY. GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR KEEPING MY CHILDREN SAFE. Tuesday, Oct 7 at 6:40 PM mckenzie wrote ...Ppl dont understand that Mr. Ling arrived at shcool when the buses were already on their morning routes. He couldnt stop it. They did what they thought was best. Tuesday, Oct 7 at 6:01 PM Dale Ross wrote ...We heard that on TV if you say bomb anywhere they will shot everything down and we will have free time to roam and do nothing. This friends love to make trouble for every body. That way we can spend time with our girlfriends and study hall will be cut in half time. The alarm for the fire dept is another quickie one. They turn it on and then everybody goes out of the building thinking there is a fire. someone should be in charge of this things so kids wont be playing around like cooks and nuts . Tuesday, Oct 7 at 4:31 PM 10th Grader Student at NHS wrote ...I am glad that none of us got hurt but the really good question was how come Mr. Lyng let us come into school if he knew their was a threat..? All we did really was sit in 2nd block and talk, etc. Again I am glad me and my friends are safe but I think the school should take this more seriously next time, rather then scare some of the students and parents. Tuesday, Oct 7 at 3:30 PM LISA wrote ...THIS IS RIDICULOUS. AS A PARENT OF A STUDENT AT NORTHRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL THIS SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN LIGHTLY. HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT IS CREDIBLE AND WHAT IS NOT!!! THE SITUATION SHOULD OF BEEN HANDLED DIFFERENTLY. WE MAKE LIGHT OF THE SITUATION NOW BUT WHO KNOWS NOW DAYS WHAT KIDS ARE UP TO? HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING SINCE COLUMBINE!!!??? I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH THE SCHOOL SYSTEM RIGHT NOW. IS THIS HOW THEY SECURE THE FACILITY-REALLY? WHAT IF SOMETHING WAS FOUND? Tuesday, Oct 7 at 3:04 PM James wrote ...Airing a story like this only gives the kids an incentive to do it again. The school should deal with it as they know best and the media should stay out of it. Tuesday, Oct 7 at 2:57 PM Baffled wrote ...As the principal wrote in the letter at http://www.mcsin-k12.org/, I would hope, if he was there before students arrived, that they would take it seriously enough not to let anyone into the building.... Tuesday, Oct 7 at 2:54 PM Concerned Parent wrote ...If you knew before school started that there was a bomb threat why would you allow our children to enter the building before you were sure that it was safe???? Tuesday, Oct 7 at 2:53 PM Would these kids quit playing around wrote ...Somebody didn't want to take a test or something I bet. These kids need to realize that this is not a joke. I'm sure everyone is okay though so don't worry. Tuesday, Oct 7 at 2:51 PM just me wrote ...kid must have been proud of the "bomb" he just dropped in the cammode! Tuesday, Oct 7 at 1:51 PM Chris wrote ...My girlfriend is in there and I hate that this is all they have about the story. I need to know more than that! Tuesday, Oct 7 at 1:43 PM GoodToKnow wrote ...The statement is on the website http://www.mcsin-k12.org/ Tuesday, Oct 7 at 1:41 PM ??? wrote ...Why would you lock/trap the students inside the building if there's a bomb threat? Are the administrators really thinking? Tuesday, Oct 7 at 1:40 PM Parent of Student wrote ...I am very thankful that nothing was found. I want to thnk the safety officer on duty at the school and all of the faculty and administration for ensuring the safety of the students Tuesday, Oct 7 at 12:58 PM Nicole wrote ...Kids are stupid Tuesday, Oct 7 at 12:24 PM Say what? wrote ...Placed on lockdown-with the students IN the building? Add a comment |
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Wednesday, Oct 29 at 11:10 AM mike n.(northridge student) wrote ...
i go to northridge and i think that the threats are always fake for our school (you would think so too if you knew the kids :P) for instance last year we had a "threat" on 4/20. 4/20 is not only not even a school day (it was a sunday) but it is also a day stoners refer to as the "get high day" so it was just some kid amping up the day.