OUZ not the only college to receive a bomb threat on Tuesday

ZANESVILLE — Ohio University Zanesville was not the only college in Southeast Ohio and Northern West Virginia to face a bomb threat on Tuesday.

A threat was called into the Zanesville Police Department just before 2 p.m., with the ZPD, Muskingum County Sheriff's Office, Zanesville Fire Department and Muskingum County EMA responding shortly after. The combined Zane State College and OUZ campus was closed while a bomb-sniffing dog searched the building. Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said nothing was found, and officers left the scene around 4 p.m.

The Marietta Times reported that a suspicious package was found on West Virginia Northern Community College’s Wheeling campus Tuesday afternoon, and Belmont College, WVU at Parkersburg and Washington State Community College in Marietta all faced similar threats.

Unfortunately, Lutz said, most of the people making the threats are not caught.

"A lot of the time, these things can't be located, they come back as a spam number or overseas." Should the person or people responsible be located, felony charges are possible, Lutz said.

Det. Sgt. Phil Michael of the Zanesville Police Department, said he considered the episode a swatting event. "They did this to warrant a large response and to inconvenience first responders," he said.

"We are always checking with our partners at the state and federal levels to see if there is anything out there we can utilize," Lutz said. "Our investigators may be reaching out to them to try and see what they have to help."

ccrook@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: OUZ not the only college to receive a bomb threat