CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — There were some tense moments at Jefferson County’s Wildwood Middle School when the school received a specific threat.
“A call came into Wildwood Middle School saying they had placed bombs around the outside of school and they had an AR-15 and the school should be evacuated within 15 minutes,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Tom Hansen.
The call was placed at 10:19 a.m. Wednesday. Law enforcement descended on the school with full force immediately. The school was locked down along with nearby Jefferson High School. Police established an almost one mile perimeter with nobody getting in or out.
“Law enforcement arrived at the scene and tactically cleared the parking lots of Wildwood Middle School and lots at Jefferson High School. Additional reinforcements arrived from local and federal agencies,” said Hansen.
Parents were notified of the lockdown and threat via text and email. The notifications asked parents to not come to the school. Instead they were directed to nearby Sam Michael Park for reunification with their children.
According to Hansen after the entry and parking lot of each school was cleared. School buses carried students to the park to meet the parents.
The Sheriff said at this point they have no suspects, but are continuing the investigation. Federal agencies are also involved in the investigation to help find the person who made the threatening call.
“We found no bombs. We found nobody with an AR-15. But, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office will consider each one of these threats as real and true until we find out differently,” Hansen explained.
The school had 420 students and 55 staff who needed to be evacuated. No injuries were reported and all students and staff were accounted for.
“We are proud to report there were no injuries. All students and staff are safe and have been accounted for as part of the process,” said Jefferson County School Superintendent Dr. Chuck Bishop.
Just a week ago county law enforcement and the school system had undergone a mock drill with an almost identical scenario.
“I’m going to let you know it helped immensely today,” said Hansen.
The FBI Pittsburgh released a statement to MetroNews Wednesday evening:
“Personnel from FBI Pittsburgh’s Martinsburg, West Virginia Resident Agency provided immediate assistance to our law enforcement partners following a reported school threat this morning in Jefferson County.
“We take these incidents extremely seriously. The FBI will leverage every resource at our disposal to find the individual(s) responsible. School threats such as this are not a joke. It creates very real panic across the community and carries very real consequences. There is no such thing as a harmless joke when it comes to threatening a school.
“Our number one priority in situations such as this will always be the safety and security of students and staff. If you have any information, please call 1-800-CALL-FBI or make a report online at tips.fbi.gov.”
WEPM Radio Reporter Luke Wiggs contributed to this story.