‘Well-built hoax’ clears Mount Si Bomb scare shuts down school

Sitting in the bleachers and standing in the sunshine on the sports field, Mount Si High School students exchanged rumors Monday afternoon abput the suspicious package that caused school officials to evacuate their classrooms and the cafeteria.

Sitting in the bleachers and standing in the sunshine on the sports field, Mount Si High School students exchanged rumors Monday afternoon abput the suspicious package that caused school officials to evacuate their classrooms and the cafeteria.

The parcel in question prompted Assistant Principal Greg Hart to contact the Snoqualmie Police Department at 11:10 a.m. on Monday, June 16, said Rebekah Munson of the Snoqualmie Police Department. The Bellevue Bomb Squad arrived on scene at 12:45 p.m. Police are reviewing surveilance tapes and spoke with a person of interest Tuesday morning.

According to student Andrew Thibodeaux, who was in the school office when the package was discovered, it contained “lots of different colored wires, and started to make a beeping noise.” The principal evacuated the office immediately, he said. Thibodeaux’s mother, Kathy, left work to pick up her son after he used his cell phone to call her.

Munson confirmed that the package contained everything for a bomb but the explosives.

Students were using their cell phones to call or text message parents about the threat.

Parents also learned about the threat through an Internet post and the school’s emergency phone system, said district spokeswoman Carolyn Malcolm, who called the supposed bomb “a well-built hoax.”

An evacuation notice posted on the Snoqualmie Valley Public School District Web site reported that students were evacuated at 11:35 a.m. as a precaution resulting from the discovery of a suspicious package. Classes were canceled for the remainder of the day. Students whose parents were not able to pick them up remained on campus during the regular school day. Bus service continued as normal, but students were unable to retrieve their cars until about 4 p.m.

Classes resumed on Tuesday for finals.