2 Chester County schools evacuated, roads closed after bomb threat. No bomb found
Two schools were evacuated and roads were closed near the campuses after a bomb threat Monday at Chester High School, police said.
At around 3:30 p.m., Chester County Sheriff Max Dorsey and deputies reported that State Law Enforcement Division officials found no bomb on campus and re-opened the building.
Chester County detectives and SLED agents are continuing to investigate the source of the threat, sheriff officials said. No details were released Monday afternoon about the status of the investigation.
A conviction for making a false bomb threat carries a sentence of one to 10 years in prison, South Carolina law shows.
The high school and Chester career center, which is next door, were evacuated at around 10 a.m., said Grant Suskin, spokesman for the Chester County Sheriff’s Office. Students and staff were taken to a safe location, Suskin said.
No injuries were reported, Suskin said.
The SLED bomb squad spent most of the day at the scene, according to deputies. The squad has K-9 and other tools and did a sweep of the buildings on campus, officials said.
Chester County School District officials were made aware of the threat, the district said in a statement. The district did not release any other information except that law enforcement was in charge of the scene.
Roads around the school, including the J.A. Cochran Bypass, which is one of Chester’s busiest highways, were closed for several hours.
The Chester Fire Department, Chester Police Department, and Chester County Emergency Management remained on scene with sheriff’s deputies and SLED Monday afternoon, emergency officials said.
To alert the public about the large number of police and emergency vehicles on scene and the closure of the roads, Chester sheriff officials put an announcement about the threat on their officials Facebook and Twitter social media.
Check back or updates on this developing story.
This story was originally published November 23, 2020 at 11:05 AM with the headline "2 Chester County schools evacuated, roads closed after bomb threat. No bomb found."
