Police have arrested the person accused of scrawling a bomb threat on a bathroom wall at Mars Area High School in Butler County, a threat that referenced Friday and triggered a building-wide sweep by seven bomb squads earlier this week. The Mars Area School District notified parents and guardians by letter that the Adams Township Police Department had made an arrest in connection with the case.
Police have arrested the person allegedly responsible for a bomb threat at a Butler County high school, according to WTAE. The district letter said the Adams Township Police Department made the arrest after the threat was found written on a wall in a high school bathroom. The threat was discovered Tuesday and was dated for Friday, Oct. 16, according to the same report.
Officials said that after discovering the threat, they contacted police and took the necessary steps to keep students, faculty and staff safe, per WTAE's reporting. Law enforcement searched the building, and the response escalated quickly from there.
Seven Bomb Squads Swept the Building
Seven different bomb squads came to do a complete sweep of the building, according to the Butler Eagle. No device was found, and police officials deemed the building safe, the outlet reported. After-school activities at Mars Area High School were moved to Mars Area Middle School, while evening activities were scheduled to continue as planned at the high school, per the same report.
The Butler Eagle also reported that further security measures, including additional sweeps of the building, would be in place for the remainder of the week. The outlet noted that this was the second threat in several weeks to affect Mars Area School District, after a swatting incident on Sept. 30 caused many Butler County school districts to temporarily lock down.
Graffiti Included Swastikas and Extremist References
The bathroom graffiti did not stop at the bomb threat itself. It also contained swastikas and references to the group 764 and a splinter group known as Past Kaskar, according to the Jewish Chronicle, which quoted the threat as reading, “Friday Oct. 16 there will be a bomb.”
The identity, age and any charges facing the arrested individual have not been made public, and it remains unclear whether that person is a student at the school. WTAE's Raquel Ciampi reported that the outlet plans to provide updates as more information is released.
Part of a Wider Pattern Nationally
Hoax threats against schools are not an isolated local phenomenon. The FBI has warned that posting hoax threats to schools and other public places puts innocent people and first responders at risk, disrupts schools, and wastes resources, according to a statement from fbi.gov. A 2016 report cited by AP News found that Pennsylvania schools had seen an increase in unsolved bomb threats over the prior three academic years, even as terroristic threats overall were generally decreasing.
Similar cases have surfaced elsewhere this year. A 17-year-old was accused of making false reports of bomb threats and armed individuals at West Deptford High School in New Jersey during March and April, according to NBC10 Philadelphia, while a juvenile was charged after a hoax bomb threat at Waterville High School in Maine, per WGME.
Pennsylvania law defines terroristic threats under 18 Pa.C.S. § 2706, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, though it has not been established whether that statute applies to the charges in the Mars Area case. For now, officials have confirmed only that an arrest was made and that no explosive device was ever found inside the school.
