Officials viewing video footage to identify bomb threat suspect

After more than three tense hours after a bomb threat was made against Daleville High School, the grounds of the school plus Windham Elementary School were cleared by bomb squad members and officials began the investigative process.

Officials are working quickly to identity the culprit of a bomb threat which was made via note on Monday, Sept. 19. The threatening note, hand printed on standard three-hole notebook paper, stated, “Bomb will go off at 1:20.”  School Resource Officer Jason Myers notated on the paper that the note was picked up at 11:45 a.m.

Superintendent Dr. Diane Flournoy said officials will be viewing surveillance video taken from security cameras within the high school to help determine what person or persons left the note in a boy’s locker room bathroom. She said whoever is responsible for the threat, whether a joke or not, will be pursued and punished appropriately.

All Daleville students were kept safe during the entire ordeal with high school students taken to the football stadium and elementary students taken to the city school gymnasium adjacent to that school. Many students were picked up by parents or guardians throughout the afternoon from a safe locale, away from campus buildings. Others were bussed home.

Flournoy said a student discovered the note and gave it to Principal Josh Robertson. From that point, officials went into action to secure the safety of the students and staff, Flournoy said.

A bomb squad and K-9 unit from the Dothan Police Department as well as bomb-sniffing dogs from Fort Rucker, Alabama State Troopers and Dale County Sheriff’s Department members responded to the scene to assist Daleville police. Rescue units in the area were also placed on standby.

Officials intend to find and prosecute the responsible party.

“When the student or students are identified, we will pursue terroristic charges against those students,” said Daleville Director of Public Safety Harvey Mathis. “This is not a joke. This is something that will not be tolerated.  We will use every asset we can…This does carry with it some very heavy consequences…We will do whatever we need to do to make sure our students are safe here. There is no higher priority than the safety of our children.”

DHS student Kenyetta Stephens and Eleana Eaton told the Sun-Courier following the day’s events that students thought it was likely a joke or at the very least a drill of some sort, but it soon became serious as events unfolded and she observed law officials going into action.

“Honestly, I think they (student who likely left the note) was trying to be funny, but it’s not funny,” said Stephens. “This was one of those days when people were really scared…People should stop playing so much...”

Mathis said his department will also be investigating who made a threat to “shoot up Daleville High School” on Facebook on Sunday.

Threats by so-called clowns on social media during last weekend are “just sickening,” said Mathis, and “absolutely unthinkable that someone would take such a pleasant subject and use it to scare or harm people. There is no humor in that. I have no toleration for somebody who does that.”

The threat on Facebook from someone using the name “Klassy Clowns” that stated that “it’s time to shoot shoot up Daleville High School” and that “The klowns are in Daleville.”

Due to the FB threat, police numbers had already been increased at the high school early Monday. Mathis said a student showed a Facebook post to a parent who then contacted law officials. The police chief said reserve officers were brought in to back up the regular full-time force and students were protected from the bus to the classroom.

Clown sightings have caused alarm and have been reported in multiple states in the South. Last week, two schools were placed on lockdown due to social media threats made from a Facebook page, “Flomo Klown.” Law officials have since made multiple arrests in Escambia County in relation to those threats, which have been termed as hoaxes.

In a Monday public statement, Troy Police officials said it had taken two teens into custody for their part in a now defunct Facebook site, ClappyAndSlappy DaClown. The site caused alarm when the two clowns on the site threatened violence against Troy residents in posts and a five-minute video last week.

A Daleville woman also posted on her Facebook that her daughter was approached by someone dressed like a clown when she exited her vehicle in a Troy University parking lot late Sunday night.

In a public release sent out Monday afternoon, Troy PD said it had apprehended the pair who turned out to be Charles Henderson High School students.