Clarke County juvenile arrested after bomb threat

At approximately 11:38 am, a phone call was received in the main office of Millbrook High School with a subject making statements about the presence of an explosive device on school property.

Established protocols were followed by school administrators, including notifying members of the FCSO School Safety Division, and all students and staff were immediately evacuated from the building. Incoming and outgoing vehicular traffic was shut down, with a perimeter set up and a joint incident command, between law enforcement and fire & rescue established for further investigations into the claim. K-9 teams and personnel from Frederick County Fire & Rescue, the Fire Marshall’s Office, the Winchester City Sheriff’s Office, Mount Weather, and the Virginia State Police responded to the scene to join Frederick County Sheriff’s Deputies and School Resource Officers in the ongoing efforts. Search teams worked methodically to check and clear the building as a coordinated plan to get students onto waiting buses, or turned over to arriving parents, was executed, resulting in the safe departure of all students and school personnel.

Using available technology, and electronic forensics, to examine the initial phone call, a person of interest was developed in this case. Upon further investigation and in-person interviews, a 17-year-old juvenile in Clarke County has been taken into custody, where appropriate charges will be determined and placed.

Sheriff Lenny Millholland wishes to extend a serious message about what some might still consider a harmless prank. “Folks need to realize that any threat, such as this, has to be taken absolutely
seriously. We can’t risk whether such a threat is someone’s idea of a joke or if this person is looking to actually harm our community. Today’s event will cost the taxpayers of Frederick County thousands of dollars and pull over a dozen deputies from other assignments and the need for additional resources from several area agencies.”

The Sheriff closed out his remarks, “When we find perpetrators in these types of incidents, not only will we be seeking all applicable criminal charges, but we will also be seeking full financial restitution for expense incurred due to their crime. No matter the age.”