Authorities fail to see the humor in a prank bomb threat that on Wednesday prompted a lock down at Barrow Elementary School.
To help catch the prankster, authorities recently offered a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the his or her arrest.
“We don’t want the education system to be disrupted by these kinds of calls,” said Maj. Mark Sizemore, commander of the Athens-Clarke County police Centralized Criminal Investigation Division. “We are putting a lot of energy into investigating this case.”
The threat was on a pre-recorded message that was played over the phone by someone who called the school at about 10 a.m., police said.
School administrators immediately placed the school on hard lock down, restricting movement in and outside of the school, and called the police. Officers with the Athens-Clarke County and Clarke County School District police departments conducted a full sweep of the Pinecrest Drive campus. The University of Georgia Police Department, Athens-Clarke County Department of Fire and Emergency Services, and National EMS also responded to the incident.
No threats were located, but the school remained on soft lock down the remainder of the day with normal, inside activities resuming.
Anyone with information concerning the bomb threat is asked to call Athens-Clarke County police Det. Chris Brogden at (706) 613-3388, ext. 312. Anonymous calls can be made on the Crime Stoppers tip line at (706) 613-3342.
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