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Police arrested a 17-year-old boy they say called in two bomb threats to Jordan High School.
Police say the high school junior they believe is responsible for the threats was found across the street from the school at Dewey Bluth Park, watching the evacuation and police response.
Police gave the all clear at 10:30 a.m. and students were allowed to go back to class.
Jordan School District spokeswoman Melinda Colton tells KSL that apparently the teen phoned in a threat around 7:30 this morning. The caller said the bomb was located in a locker room and would go off at noon.
Police were searching the building when a witness who allegedly saw the suspect make the threatening call reported his identity to police. The searched locations he's known to hang out at and found him at the park.
Sgt. Justin Chapman, with the Sandy Police Department, said, "This young man is going to be charged with a second-degree felony, so there's gonna be a serious charge for him, something that he's gonna have to pay for, for the next little while. And we want to encourage those who are seeing this, especially students, if that is a motive, the price is not going to be worth it."
Chapman says it's considered making a terrorist threat. "It's obviously a very serious situation when you cause this kind of circumstance," he said.
Colton says the district's main priority is keeping students safe, then investigating what happened.
Students stood outside in the cold for about three and a half hours before being allowed back in the school. When they got the go-ahead to go back inside, some expressed concern.
Sophomore Karl Heward's mom was worried. He says, "I called her and I was like, ‘Mom, guess what, we had a bomb threat. Surprise!'" His parents picked him up so he wouldn't have to wait in the cold.
Police say the teen also phoned in a threat yesterday after school. Only a few teachers and other personnel were at school at the time, and they were evacuated. Police checked the building and found no explosives.
District Spokeswoman Melinda Colton says classes will be shortened today in order to get as much teaching in as possible. She says students who did not come back will be marked absent for the day.
E-mail: spark@ksl.com
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
