Crime & Safety
Police Chief: Middle School Evacuation Caused Traffic Disaster
Parents rushing to pick up their children caused a traffic disaster after a bomb threat was found on calculators.
Peters Township Police Chief Harry Fruecht told Peters Council Monday night that he made the decision to evacuate Peters Township Middle School on Friday after school authorities found a threat on calculators that said the school would blow up at 10:40 a.m.
Fruecht said police received the report of the threat around 10:15 a.m., which did not give them enough time to sweep the building before the supposed detonation.
Four bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in to search the building and no credible threat was found.
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Meantime, students were evacuated to buses outside of the school to keep them warm. It was then decided to shuttle the students to McMurray Elementary for the rest of the day, but the traffic from all the concerned parents coming to pick up their children caused a "disaster," according to Fruecht.
"It worked, but it was a mess," he told Peters Council.
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Council Chairman Frank Arcuri said he would like to let the school board know that the council is concerned and would like them to work on making sure the situation doesn't happen again.
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