Leander School Evacuated Amid Bomb Threat

LEANDER, TX – An elementary school was evacuated Wednesday afternoon after a bomb threat before police gave the all-clear.

Rutledge Elementary School at 11501 Staked Plains Dr. was evacuated at around 2:30 p.m. just before the end of classes for the day. A bomb-sniffing dog was dispatched to the scene before a determination was made that the school was under no threat. An all-clear was given about two hours after the call was made, according to district officials, and no injuries were reported.

Leander ISD officials kept parents updated throughout the ordeal, with continual messages on the status of the police investigation.

The threat made against the school is the latest in a series of similar incidents reported at other schools in recent days.

On Monday, Reagan Early College High School was opened on a two-hour delay as officials there dealt with a threat made against the campus in Northwest Austin. Ultimately, no threat was found during a sweep for safety. The day before that, University of Texas at Austin police said a Houston man, Sean Evan Haddon, 23, was arrested in Harris County after threatening the school.

It's not clear, however, if all the recent threats are somehow related.

In recent days, a couple of schools have implemented evacuations after unattended packages were deemed suspicious. On April 6, students were evacuated from Cedar Ridge High School after a suspicious package was found in the mail room before the item was deemed non-threatening. Just eight days before that, Round Rock ISD officials evacuated students from their classrooms after an empty box left outside Round Rock portable classrooms at Canyon Vista Middle School raised suspicion. That container also was found to be benign, just an empty cardboard box that had been left unattended.

The incidents come in the wake of a terror campaign involving lethal parcel bombs delivered to unsuspecting residents last month that left two dead and others injured. Mark Anthony Conditt, 23, later blew himself up as police closed in, detonating one of the same deadly devices with which he had unleashed his terror on himself.

After such high-profile incidents as the serial bombings, copycats emerge trying to emulate such actions. However, police have not confirmed whether or not the recent string of called-in threats have been inspired by the serial bombings that terrorized the city.

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