Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Thursday, February 7, 2013
(SPENCER) - An Owen Valley High School student called police just before 7:30 Wednesday morning and said he had taken 20 hostages in a computer lab at the school and had an explosive device he could detonate at any time.
More than 20 police officers from various agencies surrounded the school on Ind. 46 in Spencer.
School personnel were evacuated, buses bringing students to school were diverted to elementary schools.
Police with their weapons drawn entered the school and searched.
According to ISP Sgt. Curt Durnill, officers cleared rooms one by one, and within 45 minutes had secured the building.
Durnill says there were no students being held hostage or any bomb.
"The call was a hoax," Durnill says. "But anytime something like this happens and there is a threat it is taken seriously."
Police were able to trace the call to a student's home and the youth was taken to the Owen County Sheriff's Department for questioning.
Owen County Prosecutor Don VanDerMoere will determine what criminal charges will be filed against the juvenile who made the call.
After securing the building student resumed class.
Durnill says Indiana State Police officers remained parked on school grounds to assure parents, staff and students of their safety.
He say moire than 25 ISP troopers, Owen County sheriff's deputies, Spencer officers and Department of Natural Resources conservation officers were on the scene.
Durnil says the ISP's SWAT team and bomb squad were also called, but were called off after the search.
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