Police: No 'ongoing threat' after South Eugene High evacuated following bomb call

Eugene Police Department and Eugene School District 4J evacuated South Eugene High School in response to a bomb threat about early Wednesday afternoon and spent several hours sweeping the school with the help of bomb dogs.

Students who could not get themselves home were taken by bus to the Moshofosky Center to await pickup by parents and guardians.

There will be no school bus services. Students must be picked up.

All after-school activities, including sports practices, were canceled.

At about 5:30 p.m., police announced the sweep was complete and confirmed there is "no ongoing threat" at the school.

What happened

Police received an unverified bomb threat aimed at SEHS through its dispatch center, according to a release from the district.

SEHS was evacuated while police responded. Police spent the afternoon sweeping the school with the help of bomb dogs.

Ninth grader May Bruckner said the fire alarm went off at about 11:15 a.m. and students thought it was a fire drill.

At 12:43, she said, she received a text through the 4J alert system about the bomb threat.

She said students were evacuated outside to the fields and then taken by bus to the evacuation location. She said there was lots of confusion with many parents going directly to the school to try to get their kids.

Ninth grader Ayla Rohaley described a similar experience. Students estimated that they were waiting in the fields for about two hours before being loaded onto the buses.

She said the alarms went off before lunch, so students were hungry. All of their food was still inside the building.

Rohaley recalled some students trying to climb into the school through the windows while others walked off campus to go home before being released.

Like Bruckner, Rohaley said she didn't hear any formal announcement about concerns of a bomb threat. The district text alert system sent a message to parents that was forwarded to students.

"No one really knew what to do, so we were all just like waiting out in the fields for a long time," Rohaley said. "If we had known that it was actually serious, I think a lot of people would be more listening to the adults."

Rohaley's mother, Katie Keidel, said she had initially felt fairly nonchalant about the situation. But as she heard more details about the chaos and waiting periods, she grew concerned.

"I think that there's a general complacency, an assumption of safety," Keidel said. "I think that's a mistake, and I hope that some practice drills or a little more organized security or something can happen prior to there being regret that there wasn't more preparation."

Police investigating

Once the building has been deemed safe, the school will share information with families on retrieving any personal items left in the building.

In addition to searching the school, police were investigating the source of the call.

Both police and district officials said they were taking the call seriously.

"The district takes any potential threat to safety very seriously and works closely with law enforcement to respond," a news release stated. "Making any threat of violence is no joke — it is a serious matter that is against the law as well as school rules."

Anyone with information about the origin of the threat is asked to contact Eugene Police Department at 541-682-5111.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: South Eugene High evacuated after bomb threat