For the second time in less than a week, police in St. Thomas are investigating a bomb threat at a local high school.
St. Thomas police received the threat against St. Joseph Catholic High School just before 12:15pm on Monday. The building on Bill Martyn Pkwy. was evacuated as a precaution while officers swept the area for an explosive device. None were found and the threat was deemed a hoax.
The staff and students, who were temporarily housed nearby at the Faith Baptist Church, were allowed to go back inside the school around 2:15pm.
A similar phoney bomb threat was made against the school last Thursday.
London District Catholic School Board officials cannot pinpoint a reason why the school is being targeted.
"It is unusual to have two threats back-to-back," said Superintendent of Education Ed DeDecker. "The safety of students is our absolute number one priority. We will continue to cooperate fully with the police in order to assist them with their ongoing criminal investigation... the key to resolving this is finding the person or persons who are involved and bring it to their attention that this is a very serious criminal matter that causes students, staff and, parents a lot of unnecessary stress."
DeDecker commended students for their actions during what can be a scary situation. He noted they were fully cooperative and respectful with staff and police.
Anyone with information about these bomb threats is asked to call St. Thomas police or Crime Stoppers.
