EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah, Sept 19, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Officials confirmed that all children at Eagle Valley Elementary School, in Eagle Mountain, are safe after a bomb threat Monday afternoon, and a suspect was taken into custody.
According to a news release from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, the man in custody is Christopher Craig, 35, of Eagle Mountain. He was arrested after three hours of negotiations with authorities.
Sgt. Spencer Cannon, spokesman for UCSO, tweeted Tuesday morning bail has been set for Craig at $25,000 cash only after yesterday’s incident.
On Monday, at 2:13 p.m., dispatchers with Utah Valley Dispatch received a call from a man who said he was at Eagle Valley Elementary School, 4475 N. Heritage Drive. He told dispatchers, and the staff at the school, to evacuate the school because the trunk of his car had explosives in it and he was going to arm the explosives.
After Craig entered the school and warned staff to evacuate, he walked out the front door and school staff immediately locked the doors and activated school lockdown and evacuation procedures. As many as 250 children were in the school, and all were evacuated to two previously designated safe locations.
Parents of the students were contacted and school administration confirmed that all of the children were reunited with their families just after 5:30 PM.
During negotiations, Craig said he wanted to share his message and would then allow officers to arrest him. After talking to negotiators, Craig did walk away from his car and allowed officers to take him into custody without further incident.
Members of the Utah Valley Metro Bomb Squad searched Craig’s car and determined there were no explosives or other threatening items in the vehicle. Craig also had no explosives or weapons in his possession. Investigators obtained a search warrant for Craig’s home in Eagle Mountain, and no weapons or explosives were found during that search.
Craig was taken to the Utah County Jail, where he was booked on charges of threat of terrorism, a second-degree felony; interference with arresting officer, a Class B misdemeanor; failure to disclose identity, a Class B misdemeanor; disrupting operation of a school, a Class B misdemeanor; and disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor.
The investigation is still active.
A Utah County Sheriff’s Office Deputy stopped Craig for a minor traffic violation in January 2016, according to the Sheriff’s Office. During that stop and afterward, Craig became agitated and yelled obscenities at the deputy in a threatening manner. Craig is known to have mental health-related issues, but it is unknown if he is currently receiving treatment.
Kimberly Bird, the assistant to the superintendent of the Alpine School District, said the intruder did initially enter the school and talked to the school secretary, who intercepted him, and he responded that an evacuation needed to happen if officials wanted to keep people safe.
Bird said, “He exited the building at that time and the custodian immediately locked the school down and then the evacuation procedures took place.
“Teachers practice this quite often throughout the school year and were able to be hand-in-hand with local authorities as they helped divert one group of students for evacuation to the City Center and another group to another safe area.”
Bird said one employee, a lunch worker, did not hear the announcement of evacuation and, as she walked out, she did notice there were a lot of police around the building, so she locked herself inside.
The district has discussed, if school resumes Tuesday, what types of things teaching officials should look for in the students. Counselors and school psychologists will be on hand. Parents were to be updated Monday night on when school will resume. Bird said she also hopes parents will talk to their children about what occurred.
Officials will also be reviewing safety procedures that were in place with a view to whether the procedures need to be updated.
One parent, Denyelle Harris, spoke of the moment when she learned there was an incident at the school, but did not yet know whether her 9-year-old was safe.
“I was parked in front of the school right before they were supposed to be let out, and a police officer told me I had to move my vehicle,” said Harris. “That’s when they all swarmed in. It was nerve-wracking, because I didn’t know if my kids were still inside the school or not. Once they told us they were evacuated, I moved my car.”
