Police arrest teenager responsible for Coatesville Area School District canceled classes
COATESVILLE, Pa. (CBS) – A 17-year-old is in custody and charged with making terroristic threats against the Coatesville area high school. The threat forced the Coatesville Area School District to shut down its high school and middle school Tuesday.
The district attorney says this was the 14th threat, a tip of potential violence in three weeks. They're hoping Wednesday's arrest shows how serious these incidents are taken.
Meanwhile, it's back to class today for students in the Coatesville Area School District. A 17-year-old from Valley Township was arrested in connection with this incident, District Attorney Ryan's Office said.
A series of threats forced both, the high school and the middle school, to close yesterday.
The FBI is now involved in this investigation. They, along with local officials, are looking into what's caused multiple disruptions at the school over the last three weeks.
People in Coatesville are reacting after bomb threats at the senior high school prompted several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, to respond.
"You can't be overly cautious you just gotta take each threat seriously it's crazy out there," a local resident said.
The Coatesville Area School District says Monday they received a Safe2Say message that indicated an explosive was placed in the senior high school and that it would be ignited at noon.
Students were evacuated and moved to the school stadium where they were meant to wait while service explosives detection canine went through the campus and their personal items that were left in classrooms.
The district says after about 60 minutes, a fight broke out between six students causing chaos with the 1400 students present.
About 37 agencies were called to assist.
"I drive past the school every day to go to work," Darlington Jallah, an uncle of one of the students, said. "So when I saw the huge police presence, I thought 'not again, not again.' So, I checked my email and said oh not again."
While no one was injured and no credible threat was found.
In a release, the district says it canceled school for students in grades 8 - 12 on Tuesday to give everyone a moment to "take a breath."
Jallah says incidents like this are unsettling.
"It's not good because that's the time they should be focusing on school and now they have to sit at home wondering if something will happen," Jallah said.