Police and Lakeview School District officials assured the community that students and staff are safe, and investigations are ongoing following two threats to the district this week.
The first was a threat of a shooting via the district's website on Tuesday night. The second was a bomb threat in a voice message left after midnight today and discovered early this morning as the day began.
The school activated its emergency procedures this morning, evacuating 2,500 secondary students and rerouting elementary students, safety reuniting them with their families. The emergency plan in place worked.
Police continue to investigate both threats, and do not believe there is an ongoing threat to Lakeview students and staff. Police believe they are dealing with a copycat in today's incident, and are developing leads and suspects. They have persons of interests regarding today's threat.
Chief Jim Blocker asked that the community be patient, as these investigations will take time. He said today's threat could "absolutely" be a prank and praised Lakeview for the success of the district's emergency plan.
Blocker said there are lessons to learn from today -- information got out ahead of facts; concerns about the threat led to quicker action to evacuate the schools before the message was fully evaluated. Police and school officials continue to improve their communication between the agencies and with the community.
Blocker said he hopes police will successfully identify suspects in these incidents.
"We plan to go after these folks as aggressively as we can," he said today.