Bomb Threat Closes Culpeper Schools

WASHINGTON - Public schools will reopen Friday in Culpeper County after a search of 15 public and private schools turned up no explosives following a phoned in bomb threats.

Culpeper Sheriff H. Lee Hart said the threat, which came on the heels of three deadly U.S. school attacks in the span of a week, was called into the county's communications center at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"The individual had a lengthy conversation, and in this conversation he said he was going to blow up schools," Hart said. "We do not know which schools or his plans. We don't know a lot about this individual."

State police used explosives-detecting dogs and bomb technicians in a search of the buildings on Thursday, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was called for assistance, officials said.

Experts planned to sweep all the public school buildings and several private schools for bombs or other possible dangers.

"You simply can't be too cautious," said Culpeper County Schools Superintendent David A. Cox. "The safety of our students and our employees is our number one concern."

Culpeper, about 60 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., is in a mostly rural area that has become a bedroom community for people who work in the capital area.

In the past two weeks, three schools in three states have been hit by deadly attacks, and several others have faced threats.

A gunman killed himself and five girls Monday at a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania; a 15-year-old Wisconsin student was arrested Friday in the shooting death of his principal; and on Sept. 27 a man took six girls hostage in Colorado, sexually assaulting them before fatally shooting one girl and killing himself.

In addition, schools in states including Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon and Wisconsin have been closed or locked down in the past week over threats of violence or guns on campus.

In addition to Culpeper County Public Schools, the following schools and daycare operations were closed Thursday:

• Culpeper HeadStart
• Culpeper County Child Care
• Early Learning Center of Culpeper
• Culpeper Baptist Child Development Center
• Epiphany Catholic School
• St. Luke's Lutheran School
• Culpeper Christian School

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