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Juveniles arrested for bomb hoax

Published 3:52 pm Monday, November 24, 2008

Chad Coleman/Mercer Island Reporter Washington State Patrol troopers assist with bomb-sniffing dogs after a bomb threat was called in to Mercer Island High School on Tuesday morning
Chad Coleman/Mercer Island Reporter Washington State Patrol troopers assist with bomb-sniffing dogs after a bomb threat was called in to Mercer Island High School on Tuesday morning

Reporter staff

Two teenagers were arrested on the morning of Feb. 27 for calling in a bomb threat the day before at Mercer Island High School. According to Mercer Island Police Detective Pete Erickson, a 15-year-old and 16-year-old both confessed to the felony. No charges have yet been made.

The juveniles were arrested separately, in different locations. The 15-year-old, a Seattle resident, was arrested at 8 a.m. on Mercer Island, and the 16-year-old was arrested in Renton, where the youth lives, Erickson said. No further details into the case have yet been released.

At 8:05 a.m. on Feb. 26, an MIHS secretary received a phone call that a bomb was in the school. Administrators immediately called the police and evacuated faculty and students to the MIHS stadium. The Washington State Patrol bomb unit was called in to search the school, spurring administrators to cancel classes for the day.

After nearly two hours of searching, the bomb squad, which included bomb-sniffing dogs and explosive technicians from the Washington State Patrol and Department of Homeland Security, declared the school safe.

The King County Prosecutor’s Office has 72 hours to file charges in this type of case. The School District has not yet commented on the issue.

The Reporter will continue to update news of the pending investigation.

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