There were some tense moments for the staff and students of the Estevan Comprehensive School Thursday after a bomb threat forced an evacuation of the facility.
According to press releases from both the Estevan Police Service and Southeast Cornerstone School Division, a threat was received at 10:15 a.m.
"(The threat) was left on the bathroom wall at the Comp and it was found by a student and reported," said Sgt. Kevin Reed of the EPS.
Shortly after learning of the threat the EPS and school administrators made the decision to evacuate the school's roughly 900 students. Those students who live in Estevan were sent to their homes while rural students were transported to Spruce Ridge School.
"It is a joint decision between the school staff and the police," said Reed. "There was a discussion as to the next action to take and at that point the decision was made to evacuate all the students and send them home."
Once the evacuation was complete, EPS officers, members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service and some ECS staff conducted a search of the school. Reed said the search team was unable to locate anything that raised an alarm.
"We didn't locate any suspicious packages and we waited for a period of time with the school being empty and then returned to the building."
Students were allowed to return to the school shortly after 1 p.m. and classes resumed at 1:30.
There were no reports of any injuries to students or staff and the school division noted in its release that every measure was taken to ensure the safety of all involved.
Reed said the EPS is continuing its investigation into the matter and are asking anyone with information about Thursday's threat to call the Estevan Police Service office or Crime Stoppers.
