SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For the second time this March, law enforcement are investigating a suspicious device that was found near a South Sacramento elementary school.
Laurine Way and Iowa Avenue in South Sacramento was blocked off by law enforcement Friday morning as they investigated the device.
Ethel I. Baker Elementary sits along Laurine Way, however, the device was not found on school grounds, it was found on the sidewalk in front of the school. Sgt. Rod Grassman of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said no students or faculty were on the school's campus. All activities at the campus scheduled for Friday were canceled.
Shortly after 9:30 a.m., the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office tweeted they were able to disable the device and render it safe. They also announced no other devices were found.
No one was hurt in either incident but sources confirm a representative from the FBI was on scene just out of an abundance of caution.
The sun wasn't even up yet, when a staff member at Ethel I. Baker Elementary School, once again, found a suspicious device on the sidewalk adjacent to the school, which the bomb squad later found to be a live pipe bomb.
"Why would anyone want to leave a bomb here at the school with innocent kids?!" Amanda Mclain, a preschool instructional aid said.
The bomb squad was able to render it safe and bomb-sniffing dogs cleared the school while neighbors like Charlotte Johnson were told to shelter in place.
"This is kinda nerve-wracking, you just don't know if you want to go outside," Johnson said.
"Even more concerning is approximately three weeks ago, we had the same kind of call to the same school with the same kind of device and so that's concerning to know that someone or some subjects are doing this," Sgt. Kionna Rowe, a spokesperson for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said.
Leaving teachers, understandably on edge.
"I think the first time around, I kinda thought well, not necessarily targeting the school, but this time around, I feel fearful, I'm worried," Melissa Miller, a teacher said.
There are only about 50 students doing in-person learning at this campus, in a special learning hub, all of which were told to stay home after this happened.
The rest of the school is expected to return to in-person learning on April 8th but with no one in custody just yet for the now and two pipe bombs found near the same school, neighbors are on high alert.
"It's a little scary, I don't know what's going on with the school, who's upset with the school or what they want to do to the school, but it is a little scary, being an elementary school and the kids trying to come back to school and they're not able to, and it's a little disheartening," Johnson said.
The Sacramento City Unified School District said they plan to have additional rounds from district security detail around the school and they also requested more patrol units from the sheriff's office to help keep an eye on things. They say this will not change their expected return date to school.
"We just hope that this is the last one, we pray that this is the last one," Mclain said.
The sheriff's office says they are still in the process of reviewing security camera video from the school and neighbors and they are hoping to pull DNA evidence from Friday's pipe bomb to help identify the suspect.
If you have any information on what happened, you are asked to call the sheriff's office right away.
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