Suspected bomb threat empties Portsmouth High School

Posted 5/29/18

Portsmouth High School was on lockdown Thursday afternoon after police were called to the school shortly after 1 p.m. for a suspected bomb threat. Police would not release any information on the …

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Suspected bomb threat empties Portsmouth High School

Posted

Portsmouth High School was on lockdown Tuesday afternoon after police were called to the school shortly after 1 p.m. for a suspected bomb threat. Police would not release any information on the incident, and an officer blocking access to the school from Turnpike Avenue told parents lining up along Turnpike shortly after 2 p.m. that it would likely be some time before they could get their children.

Police and school administrators evacuated the school shortly after 1:30 p.m., bringing students outside to the football field and from there busing them to the nearby Masonic Lodge. Meanwhile, police searched the campus room to room, according to radio communications.

While police continued to check the campus, a K-9 unit from the Rhode Island State Police pulled up and was let past the police sentry. A dispatcher from the Portsmouth Police Department said soon after that the department would issue a press release some time later in the day.

This is the second time in one week that the school has been put on lockdown. Last Thursday, a student trying to gain access to the school through the gym tripped an alarm that led school officials to lock down the campus.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.