Nothing found in bomb threat forcing evacuation of school, church, police say
Riverhead police at St. John Paul II Regional School where an anonymous bomb threat was made Thursday. Credit: Newsday / Vera Chinese
An anonymous bomb threat forced the evacuation of a Riverhead parochial school and church Thursday, but Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said an investigation of the school and its grounds found nothing suspicious.
The bomb threat was made in a phone call to St. John Paul II Regional School on Marcy Avenue at 9:34 a.m., Hegermiller said.
"An anonymous call was made to an employee of the school by phone," Hegermiller said. "The school did the right thing and evacuated students and notified us."
The school has about 100 students in grade prekindergarten through eighth grade and Hegermiller said students were ultimately sent home for the day.
Marcy Avenue was closed for the investigation by Riverhead police, as well as a canine unit from Suffolk County police, Hegermiller said. The road was reoopened by around noon.
Investigators found nothing suspicious on the grounds, he said.
A woman who answered the phone at the St. John Paul II said the school had no comment.
Hegermiller said an investigation of the adjacent church building, belonging to the St. Isidore Roman Catholic Church, also uncovered no suspicious packages or items.
There were no reported injuries and the investigation remains ongoing.
With Vera Chinese
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
