Carter
Early Friday morning, Indiana State Police (ISP) was made aware of an email sent to approximately 40 Indiana schools threatening the use of explosive devices that had allegedly been planted on various school campuses.
ISP immediately allocated all intelligence resources to investigate the validity of the threat, to include communication with the Department of Education, as well as local, county, and federal law enforcement partners.
As of press time Friday night, no suspicious or explosive devices were found in any of the schools. The investigation into the origin of this threat is ongoing.
“The safety of our children will always be a top priority,” ISP Superintendent Doug Carter said, “and the Indiana State Police will continue to offer any and all resources we have to schools to ensure safety for our students.”
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Locally, Noblesville Schools was one of the districts who received a threatening email. Before 8 a.m. Friday, Noblesville Schools Superintendent Dr. Daniel Hile sent the following message to Noblesville families:
Hile
Good morning, Noblesville Schools families. This is your Superintendent, Dr. Hile.
In the middle of the night, we received an anonymous email that made a bomb threat against our schools. Our team has been working on this situation since early this morning. While we do not have any reason to believe that the threat is credible at this time, we are of course not willing to risk the safety of our students or staff.
For that reason, and out of an overabundance of caution, I am calling an e-learning day today, on Friday, April 14th. Our team will spend today working with our local law enforcement and other appropriate agencies to further investigate this threat, and also ensure the safety of every one of our schools.
I apologize for the short notice, and appreciate your understanding as we continue to work hard to keep our schools, staff, and children safe.
Then, Supt. Hile followed up with a mid-afternoon message regarding the situation.
I wanted to provide an update regarding the bomb threat that we received last night. Approximately 40 other school districts throughout the state also received the threat.
Our law enforcement teams have been hard at work since early this morning sweeping our buildings and ensuring the safety of our students and staff. No suspicious or explosive devices have been found in any of our schools and all buildings have been cleared for staff and students to safely return.
Federal and state law enforcement agencies are pursuing this investigation aggressively and we are hopeful that the person responsible will be quickly apprehended.
As always, please remain vigilant of your surroundings and report any suspicious activity to your principal or school resource officer. Principals provided support resources for our families earlier today and I encourage you to reference those, as needed.
All evening activities will move forward as planned and we look forward to welcoming students back to school on Monday.
I understand that this situation has created quite a disruption for everyone today, and I greatly appreciate your patience and understanding. Thank you, as always, for your support of our schools, staff, and most importantly, our children.
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Although Westfield Washington Schools did not receive any such threat Friday, the following message was sent to Westfield families before 8 a.m. Friday.
We are aware that some school districts around Central Indiana have modified their operations after having received anonymous threats. Westfield Washington Schools have not received any threats and will be conducting normal operations. The safety and security of students and staff is our top priority, and we will continue to closely monitor the situation.
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Great work to all law enforcement – local, state, and federal – and all school officials in working to keep Hamilton County safe.