Update: Tolland High School Bomb Scare is False Alarm

Updated June 16, 1 p.m.

Resident State Trooper Sgt. Scott Smith responded to questions about the recent THS lock-in, after the school experienced a bomb scare on June 7.

"The validity of the threat didn't reach a level where we thought we needed to evacuate the school," Smith said of the decision to lock-in the school, meaning that students remained in their classrooms as a search was conducted.

First responders and troopers were called to the school after what was thought to be a drawing of a bomb was found in an upstairs bathroom.

Smith said that a lock-in allows searchers to comb through common areas and thoroughly search the school without interference while simultaneously protecting students from anything dangerous that may have been uncovered.

He said that the students would have been evacuated at once if public safety officials and administrators thought there was immediate danger.

Smith added that if anything had escalated the situation to a higher threat level, the school would have been evacuated.

State troopers, public safety officials and school administration decided collaboratively to put the school into a lock-in, as opposed to an evacuation, Smith said.

Original Story:

A bomb scare at Thursday morning turned out to be a false alarm, according to Resident State Trooper Sgt. Scott Smith.

Smith said that a student saw a picture of a bomb in an upstairs bathroom early Thursday morning. The student reported the drawing to an administrator who contacted Smith a little before 9 a.m. 

Smith looked at the picture and organized a search of the high school with members of the , and some school faculty members. The school was placed in lock-in at that time, Smith said.

The search turned up no explosives, and school returned to normal for the rest of the day, according to Smith.

The case is still under investigation.