Schools swatted shut in Lincoln County

Several schools in Lincoln County were among more than 30 in the state that shut down April 12 after receiving and email claiming a bomb was in the building.

Lake Roosevelt Schools was not among them, and after checking staff emails for a similar message determined the Grand Coulee Dam School District had not received the threat.

Superintendent Paul Turner notified the community with a posting online.

“At this time, we have not received any such email or threat,” Turner stated. “We will continue to monitor the situation and update you if more information becomes available. We have been in contact with Coulee Dam and Tribal PD, and will continue with business as usual at this time.”

Schools in Davenport, Wilbur, Almira, Creston, and Hartline did get the threatening email, however.

Davenport school officials said they got it at 11:05 a.m.

“At that time we evacuated the schools and called law enforcement. We are going to take a cautious approach and close our schools for the day.”

Davenport’s students were evacuated to a church. A preplanned “reunification process” was put in place to get kids home. Buses had to be rescheduled.

Law enforcement agencies responded, looking for signs of a bomb. Fairchild Air Force Base sent a bomb-detecting dog unit.

Kids were released from Almira-Coulee-Hartline schools at 12:40.

Reportedly, schools in Whitman County were also affected.

At 3:28 p.m. the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office posted an update on its Facebook page saying the schools had been “swept” by police and dogs, and found safe.

“Since the initial report, we have learned many school districts throughout the state of Washington have received the same or similar threat by email in what appears to be a large scale “swatting” attempt,” the post said.

Swatting is the term applied to such hoaxes that cost time and money for agencies and schools in such episodes that have occurred from Rhode Island to Kansas to Washington state and all over.