ROSEVILLE, Calif. — There's already been scary moments for teachers, students and parents at a Placer County elementary school due to a bomb threat emailed to the principal just five days into the school year.
It happened early Wednesday morning at Creekview Ranch Middle School, which is near Roseville. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the search is on for whoever sent the email.
Parents, like Ashlei Thorn, were on edge waiting outside the school after getting the notification.
“My stomach dropped and the first thing I thought of was: how is this happening at a school? These are babies. These are children,” Thorn said.
Investigators say an email was sent to the principal around 9 a.m. saying sometime in the near future a bomb was going to explode at the school. Sgt. Dave Smith with the Placer County Sheriff's Office says any threat made toward schools is taken seriously.
“There is information right now that we are working on that this happened nationwide today. I can't verify that information, but it is part of what detectives are looking into,” Smith said.
Around 800 Transitional Kindergarten through eighth grade students were evacuated while Placer County’s explosive ordinance team searched the school with canines and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
Four hours later, after no trace of a bomb was found, the students were allowed to return to class. Many parents pulled their kids out early, though.
“As soon as they open, I’m going to pick them up right away. I think they should let the kids go. They are all pretty afraid right now,” said Rangit Chohan.
Many parents expressed frustration over Dry Creek Unified School District’s new cellphone policy banning students from using their phones on campus.
Some parents said they were texting their kids with no response during the bomb threat.
ABC10 took their concerns to Assistant Superintendent Jim Ferguson, who said they did their best to update parents every 30 to 40 minutes.
“The policy does allow for, in emergency situations, for students to get direction from staff to send texts to others using their phones,” Ferguson said.
He could not confirm if the emergency protocol was enacted. He says the district will do a full event debrief with the sheriff and a private safety consultant.
The district says "Back to School Night" will be rescheduled, and they will have a person from the district and the Placer County Sheriff’s Office to answer questions.
