Officials trace origin of bomb threat at Bristol County school, FBI involved

Officials have determined whom they believe is the origin of a bomb threat aimed at a Bristol County high school on Tuesday.

According to Chief Keith Boone, at approximately 11:50 a.m. today, the Easton Police Department received a report of a bomb threat at Oliver Ames High School that was sent via Snapchat.

Several students received the Snapchat message and reported it to the principal who notified Easton Police.

The school was immediately evacuated, and all students and staff made it safely out of the building. Out of an abundance of caution, all other Easton Public Schools were put under a stay in place order.

Once police arrived on scene, they received additional information that the Snapchat message mentioned a potential hostage situation inside the school. A team of Easton Police officers mobilized and went into the school, prior to the arrival of backup, to perform a sweep of the building to try to locate any hostages.

While the sweep was ongoing, the Easton Fire Department and several area police departments arrived on scene, in addition to the Massachusetts State Police K9 Unit.

After determining that there were no hostages in the building, Easton Police made a secondary sweep of the building with explosive-sniffing K9 officers and determined there was no further threat.

While the searches were ongoing, the Easton Police Detective Unit was able to trace the source of the Snapchat message. It was determined that the message was allegedly sent by a juvenile in Choctaw, Oklahoma. Police in Oklahoma were notified, and the juvenile was located at school. Easton Police have notified Commonwealth Fusion Center and FBI, who will be following up on the case.

At approximately 2:45 p.m., police determined that the school was safe. All students were escorted to Easton Middle School to be picked up by buses and their parents. Students and staff who needed to go back into the school were escorted inside to gather any belongings they left behind.

“This was truly a team effort to safely get everyone out of the building to allow for our officers to conduct their investigation,” Chief Boone said. “We take any and all threats very seriously and I want to commend our investigators and those who assisted us in quickly identifying the juvenile we believe to be responsible for causing this incident.”

Chief Boone thanked all of the responding agencies, including Easton Fire Chief Justin Alexander and the Easton Fire Department, who provided assistance.

The Easton Police Department remained in close contact with Easton Public Schools Superintendent Lisha Cabral, Assistant Superintendent Crissy Pruitt, and Principal Kelly Cavanaugh and Chief Boone would like to thank them for their assistance as well.