Two teenage boys believed responsible for writing bomb threat latrinalia in a Winfield High School bathroom were released into the custody of their parents but could face criminal threat charges, Winfield Chief of Police Jerry DeVore said Thursday.
“We always take something like this seriously because there’s always an outside chance something could happen,” said DeVore, who indicated police investigation into the case is still ongoing.
DeVore is currently working with the Cowley County attorney’s office regarding the criminal threat charges against the boys who are 16 and 17 years of age. He declined to comment on any specifics of the investigation.
Investigators will not release the names of the suspects because they are juveniles. The boys were taken into custody by police Wednesday but DeVore did not say when they were released.
The police department’s probe began May 10 when a first threat was discovered at the high school, DeVore said. Winfield Middle School officials also found a threat in a bathroom at that school, according to information released Thursday on the USD 465 website.
The middle school student thought to be responsible has been identified. Both schools were following lockdown procedures.
DeVore declined to provide the wording of the messages, but the USD website said the messages “contained similar, non-specific threats.”
According to the school notice, it’s business as usual until the end of the school year.
“Police department officials and school administrators determined that these incidents do not increase the low to moderate risk assessment made last week,” the website said. “Contrary to rumor, there have been no threats found Wednesday or Thursday. Rumors about a bomb being found and the bomb squad being called are also not true.”
DeVore said his officers contacted officers in other cities for advice about how to handle the threat, but no outside agencies were called in to assist. DeVore has allowed up to six officers to help the school with patrols and monitoring school buildings. Students were also asked not to bring backpacks to school.
The school was never evacuated as a result of the threats, the chief said.
DeVore said situations like these call for action and assistance.
“If we’ve got someone seeking attention that way, they need help and we need to get them that help,” he said. “We don’t worry about their motivation for this. We just need to get it resolved.”
A Wichita bomb squad was in Arkansas City Thursday to investigate a suspicious package there. The incident was a hoax, according to news reports.
