Gravette Freshman Arrested In Bomb Threat
Students Evacuated Twice, Sent Home Early
Last updated Friday, May 19, 2006 10:42 PM CDT in News
By Christy Attlesey
The Morning News
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BELLA VISTA -- Police arrested a Gravette High School student Friday after finding a device containing flammable liquids in his locker.
A fellow student overheard the 15-year-old bragging about a homemade explosive device he planned to blow up at the school between seventh and eighth periods, which is around 1:30 p.m., Gravette Police Chief Trent Morrison said.
The student notified school officials about 9 a.m. the ninth-grader might have a bomb.
"He thought or wanted people to believe (the device) would do a lot of damage," Morrison said of the student who was arrested.
The district later dismissed students early after a school administrator reported a threat written on a bathroom wall saying the school still would be blown up after the device had been removed.
District officials went into "crisis mode" after the 9 a.m. threat, calling police, evacuating junior high and high school students and placing the elementary school on lock-down, said Carla Hubanks, the district's central office manager. Hubanks answered questions Friday because Gravette Superintendent Curtis Spann was out of town on a family emergency.
Hubanks said she updated Spann about the emergency several times Friday.
Speed Estep, the district's school resource officer, searched the student's locker and found a plastic tube containing flammable liquids, Morrison said. The two officers removed the device from the locker. Morrison said he detected a gasoline odor but could not determine any other liquids used.
Morrison did not know if the tube would have exploded but believes it could have harmed people in the building if it ignited.
"It definitely could have burned someone pretty well," he said.
The device is being stored in the Police Department's evidence room, Morrison said.
Estep interviewed the ninth-grader, who was being held on suspicion of a misdemeanor charge Friday at the Juvenile Detention Center in Bentonville.
Morrison said he didn't know if the student cited any reasons for wanting to harm classmates and school officials.
Police cleared students to return to class and ended the lock-down at 9:32 a.m. Then at 12:03 p.m., the high school's assistant principal, Rick Harmon, reported a second bomb threat, Hubanks said.
A message was written on a wall or stall in the men's bathroom stating the school was still going to blow up, Morrison said.
He requested the Bentonville Police Department send Guary Morgan and his bomb-sniffing dog to check the building. The dog alerted on the locker where the device was found earlier but not anywhere else, Morrison said.
Police cleared the buildings again at 3:04 p.m., Hubanks said.
Morrison said he wasn't sure if the message was a prank from a student wanting more time out of class, but he wasn't willing to take chances.
Officers will try to determine through interviews with students and faculty and viewing security videotapes who may have written the threat in the bathroom, Morrison said. The ongoing investigation may produce additional arrests, he said.
Jessica Parker, a 17-year-old junior at Gravette High School, said she thought the threat was a joke until her teacher told the class what was going on.
"It was a little scary," she said.
She spent about two hours waiting on the football field before being picked up by her mother, Ginger Parker. Parker said school officials called parents to pick up their children at 2:30 p.m. The Gravette School District doesn't normally dismiss classes until after 3 p.m.
"Gravette is a pretty good school," Morrison said. "Things like this usually don't happen here."
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