Wilson High Bomb Scare Evacuates All 4,300 Students

Update 10pm 9/19: Long Beach police Sgt. Rico Fernandez, the department spokesman, said rumors that an arrest had been made in the threat were untrue. No arrest has been made.

A Wilson High bomb threat this morning prompted the evacuation of all  4,300 students as Long Beach police and school officials combed the campus, finding no explosive.

By the time the all-clear was given about 12:30 p.m., students were released to their normal lunch time. Principal Sandy Blazer said that the sixth block or period was shorted due to a later lunch, but school otherwise resumed uneventfully. Woodrow Wilson High is one of the largest public high schools in California in the state's third largest district.

Long Beach Unified School District spokesman Chris Eftychiou said the threat was phoned into the police department about 11:20a.m., and claimed that a bomb had been placed somewhere in Wilson's cafeteria. Students were immediately taken out to the football field visible from 7th Street as a room-by-room search was conducted; open areas were also searched, Eftychiou said.

One Mom got this text at 11:50 a.m.

"There's a bomb threat in the cafeteria"

"That's it," said the Mom, who asked that her name not be used so as to not mortify her daughter.

Mom: "Do I need to come get you? We're in the car and close. Are you leaving campus? Tell me."

Student: "We're on the football field. I don't know about (a friend's child). What class does she have? We can't leave."

Then, text silence.

 It was the first such threat in memory at the campus, and a motive or suspect in the disruptive threat is under investigation. He noted that it was too early in the school year for there to be a major examination or test.

"Our school safety chief said most of the students werer taken to the football field," said Eftychiou. "Our people are trained to handle these situations. We have a protocol and it was followed today. The police were there and they're trying to figure out who made the threat."