For the second time in 2011, the Estevan Comprehensive School had to be cleared because of a bomb threat.
A threat was phoned into the school Feb. 15 at 1:30p.m., prompting the evacuation of students and staff a short time later. Estevan Police Service officers, along with ECS staff and the Estevan Fire Rescue Service, conducted a search of the school and did not find any suspicious items.
ECS students from Estevan were sent home for the day while rural students were transferred to Spruce Ridge School and eventually bused to their residences.
The first threat to the school was Jan. 20 when a student found a message written in a bathroom. Much like the most recent incident, staff and students were evacuated from the school although classes did resume later in the day.
Although the first threat remains unsolved, the EPS was able to track down the perpetrator in the second case just two days after it happened, arresting a 16-year-old male and charging him with uttering threats to cause death, serious injury or damage to property. A charge of breaching the conditions of a previous and unrelated arrest order was also laid.
The 16-year-old, whose name cannot be released under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, made his first appearance in court Feb. 17. He was held in custody and will be back in court Thursday for a bail hearing.
The EPS says the youth does not appear to have any connection to the January bomb threat.
