Newton Falls High School evacuated after bomb messages found

Staff report

NEWTON FALLS

Students in Newton Falls Middle School and High School spent much of the day Wednesday tucked away in Newton Falls Elementary after two messages referencing a bomb were found on a restroom wall.

The Newton Falls Police Department, with help from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office and bomb-sniffing dogs from four other areas, determined that there was no bomb and identified the person who wrote the messages Wednesday morning in the high school.

Newton Falls Police Chief Eugene H. Fixler said the student was taken to the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center and is being suspended from school.

A student spotted the messages about 9:30, which resulted in a lockdown and then transfer of the students from that building to the elementary school, which is on the same campus but in a different building.

The students were not able to return to their building Wednesday, but will have school today. Parents came to the school to take some of the students home. The others went home on the bus as scheduled at the end of the day.

The students were kept warm and fed despite the inconvenience, Fixler said.

He received help in the form of one bomb-sniffing dog each from the University of Akron, Kent State University, the Bedford Police Department and Shaker Heights Police Department, Fixler said.

“We are satisfied that there is no bomb, and the right person is in custody,” Fixler said, adding that he credits the student who notified school officials for doing as they are instructed — tell someone when they see something suspicious.

Fixler said he became more concerned when he realized that Thursday is the two-year anniversary of the school shootings at Chardon High School, but he now believes that was not a factor.