Charges are being sought for a 16-year-old Harper Creek female in the bomb threat that closed Harper Creek schools on Monday, Emmett Township police said late Monday.
Police and school officials identified the girl and have submitted a warrant request to the Calhoun County Prosecutor David Gilbert.
Harper Creek schools will be open Tuesday. Extra officers will be present at the schools and will assist students and staff to collect personal items left behind during the evacuation of school buildings following the bomb threat.
Law enforcement completed a sweep late Monday afternoon of all district buildings after the bomb threat, Superintendent Rob Ridgeway said.
Ridgeway said in an email law enforcement have given "the all clear."
Police were investigating a bomb threat at the Harper Creek schools complex on Beadle Lake Road, the Emmett Township Department of Public Safety said Monday afternoon.
Officers said a note was found in Harper Creek High School this afternoon that indicated a bomb would go off at 2:50 p.m. The note said authorities would never find the bomb.
After the note was found by a student about 2 p.m., police and fire crews were called to the scene. When they arrived, they noticed a PVC pipe connected to a natural gas line near the school. While such sections of pipe attached to gas lines are common throughout the area, authorities did not know that at first and the discovery caused heightened concern at the scene, officers said later.
"There is not a credible threat at this time, Public Safety and school officials are evacuating students as a precaution only," the department posted on its Facebook page. "Buses are picking up students and a parent pickup area has been established between the New High School and the Middle School near the practice fields. Public Safety as a precaution have officers at Wattles Park, Beadle Lake and Sonoma Elementary School. Again, this is being done as a precaution we have no credible threat at this time. Public Safety is working with Calhoun County, Battle Creek City and Michigan State Police."
Traffic was snarled around the high school-middle school complex as parents arrived to pick up students. Westbound B Drive North was blocked and traffic was moving very slowly on Beadle Lake Drive.
It was the second threat of violence against local schools in two days. On Sunday night, a Facebook post, deemed not credible by police, said bombs would be detonated and students would be shot at Lakeview High School. In response to the threat, Lakeview closed all district buildings on Monday and police searched all schools. They found nothing.
