Answers Given In Rigby High School Bomb Threat

When police officers from various jurisdictions responded to a threat made at Rigby High School on Friday afternoon, and the district bused nearly 800 students to another school, it was two hours before the nature of the threat was revealed.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call made to the school’s counseling office about people with weapons and pipe bombs on campus, said Sheriff Blair Olsen.

The call was made at about 1:15 p.m. The school was given the all-clear at about 4 p.m.

Students and faculty were told not to say anything during the incident. Until an interview with Olsen and Jefferson Superintendent Ron Tolman at 3 p.m., law enforcement and school officials remained tight-lipped.

“The school went immediately on lockdown mode,” Olsen said. “Deputies and law enforcement officers surrounded the building and secured the perimeter. … Once the building was secure, we then made an evacuation of the students.”

It took 20 minutes to make sure the school was safe to evacuate. The evacuation of the 750 to 800 students took about 10 minutes.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” said senior Maddie Bridges. “I heard it was a bomb threat, but no one had a straight answer.”

The students were taken in about two dozen buses to Rigby Junior High School. They were being kept inside the buses for at least an hour and were released to the junior high campus at about 3 p.m.

Junior high and high school students were allowed to leave in waves, and parents were notified where to pick them up.

“I think first and foremost, (parents) should know they’re all safe,” said Tolman while students were being housed at the junior high. “They’re being taken care of.”

Tolman said the students had been practicing for such a situation with drills. School and law officials said they were satisfied overall with the response, and students said they were glad the school was taking the threat seriously.

“I wasn’t scared. I just kept cool the whole time,” said junior John Clark.

Various agencies, including the Rigby Police Department, Idaho Falls Police Department, Central Fire District, Idaho State Police and ambulance personnel from Idaho Falls, were also called to the scene. An Idaho Falls bomb-detection dog was scouring the school Friday, but law enforcement did not find any trace of explosives at the school.

Investigation continues into the incident. No suspects from within the school have been identified.

The station normally does not do articles on bomb threats, but did so in this case because of the silence of students, teachers, and district and law officials during the lockdown, as well as the attention southeastern Idaho emergency responders gave the incident.