This is the text message that prompted Elk Grove middle school to lock down for bomb threat

Activity at an Elk Grove middle school resumed as normal Thursday, one day after the campus was locked down when a student received “an anonymous bomb threat,” authorities from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and Elk Grove Unified School District said.

Deputies were called to Joseph Kerr Middle School about 1 p.m. Wednesday after the girl received a text reading “There is a bomb at Kerr Middle School. I recommend you get out now,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a Thursday update.

The phone number wasn’t known to the student or law enforcement running it through various databases, deputies said. The student alerted school officials, who “immediately” called law enforcement to help, according to a letter sent to parents and guardians from Aaron Munoz, the school’s principal.

“All students and staff are safe,” the Elk Grove Police Department said online, while noting everyone was safely locked in their classrooms.

Deputies searched through campus, evacuating students to the gym and a multipurpose room while bomb-sniffing dogs inspected classrooms, deputies said. Nothing suspicious was found, said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman with the Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office in a social media post just before 4:45 p.m. said officials were starting to release students from the campus.

The lockdown extended into students’ dismissal times, Munoz wrote, so police were helping to direct traffic. All students were off campus by 5:15 p.m.

“Because these actions are highly disruptive to our school and community, parents are asked to remind your student that this type of threat can result in criminal charges,” Munoz wrote.

Police said traffic was expected to be heavy around Joseph Kerr Middle, which is located at the corner of Elk Grove Boulevard and Elk Grove Florin Road.

Elk Grove parent Bonnie Reed said she came to collect her child before law enforcement arrived and was waiting to pick him up. She texted her son, but fear began to build when he didn’t respond and sheriff’s deputies drove into the school.

“After (Tuesday), and the other school shootings we heard about, I’m just terrified,” Reed said.

Schools were locked down Tuesday in other parts of the capital region: Grant Union High School in Del Paso Heights, in response to a 14-year-old allegedly shooting a 17-year-old in a parking lot; and two schools in Woodland, as police negotiated with an assault suspect who climbed onto the roofs of houses near Rhoda Maxwell Elementary School and Greengate School.

Deputies are still investigating the incident and haven’t yet announced any arrests.