Federal Way bomb squad determines package found outside school nonexplosive | Update

Published 2:43 pm Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Todd Beamer High School will reopen Thursday morning after it was shutdown this afternoon after students found a bomb threat in a school bathroom.

A bomb squad, Federal Way police and the district worked together to investigate a suspicious package that staff found outside of the building following the threat. Investigators determined the package was not an explosive device.

Federal Way Public Schools spokeswoman Ann Cook said because it’s an open investigation with the police department, information about what was in the package cannot be disclosed at this time, however, she did note the district takes threats of this nature very seriously.

At around 1 p.m., students found a message in a bathroom at Todd Beamer High School that claimed an explosive device would go off in the building at 2 p.m. today, according to district officials.

Spokeswoman Debra Stenberg said the threat written on a girl’s bathroom stall.

Federal Way Police and security searched the school and found nothing inside but “out of an abundance of caution” students and staff were evacuated from the building. Students were sent home a few minutes early and all after-school activities were canceled.

However, district staff noticed something outside in the bushes facing the school’s sports fields, right outside of the building and near where the threat was made.

This prompted the district to call the bomb unit to check out a small package and parents were notified through the emergency call out system.