BATH — Morse High School students were evacuated to the Bath Area Family YMCA on Thursday morning after a threatening message was discovered in a girls bathroom.
Thursday’s threat — the third this year at Morse High School — was reported at 9:34 a.m., after writing was discovered on the wall, Bath Police Lt. Stan Cielinski said today.
Bath police have suspects, but no charges have been filed.
Cielinski declined to specify which girls bathroom or to disclose details about the threat other than that it said there was a bomb in the school.
Students walked to the YMCA on Centre Street while Maine State Police bomb dogs searched the school.
About 30 to 45 minutes before school was due to let out, students returned to the building, Cielinski said today.
Police continue to investigate the threat, and, as in the other cases this school year, have suspects.
On Sept. 19, the school was evacuated after writing on the wall of a girls bathroom indicated a bomb was in the building.
During the search that followed, locks on lockers were cut due to the nature of the threat, Cielinski confirmed. He declined to disclose further details.
On Feb. 2, another bomb threat was discovered written on a wall in a girls bathroom just before 1 p.m., but the building was not evacuated because it was so near the end of the school day, according to Cielinski.
The threats this year have not been limited to the high school, however: In February, two Bath Middle School students were charged with terrorizing after allegedly writing what Cielinski called “copycat” threats on a girls bathroom wall at that school.
On Feb. 7, a 14-year-old eighth-grade girl from Bath was charged, and three days later a 12-year-old sixth-grade girl, also from Bath, was charged.
Since then, however, “It’s been quiet at the middle school,” he said.
Police continue to investigate all the threats at Morse, including videotape from security cameras in the high school.
Individuals charged for the threats could face Class C felony charges of terrorizing.
Near noon on Thursday, Morse sophomores Hannah Carleton and Kristina Blake walked down High Street in the sun, past the high school as teachers sat on the steps of the old building waiting for bomb dogs to clear.
The girls waited outside the YMCA throughout the morning, but Carleton said they left after the food ran out at lunchtime.
“They need to take care of this,” Carleton said of the repeated threats. “It’s nice (to get out of classes), but we’ve lost so much class time.”
Cielinski asked anyone with information about any of the threats to use the Bath Police Department’s new eTip program, which allows people to anonymously send text messages to the police department.
“It’s set up so we cannot find out who puts the tip in,” he said. “It’s an anonymous way for people to give information about the crimes.
To send a text through the eTip program, text 274637.
bbrogan@timesrecord.com
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