Students at Coachella Valley High School were cleared to return to school after campus was evacuated due to a fake bomb.
The “handmade explosive object” was found Friday morning behind the industrial building on Airport Boulevard, according to a CVHS statement.
CVHS administration notified the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Students and staff were transported to two school sites, with freshmen, life skills students and students with medical needs leaving for Cahuilla Desert Academy and sophomores, juniors and seniors going to Desert Mirage High School.
CVHS acting superintendent Frances Esparza said the device resembled a “makeshift, handmade type of pipe bomb” made from hardware store materials, according to the Desert Sun, and thus it was initially unclear whether the bomb threat was real or a prank.
“They have about 20 buses out there right now, and trying to get more that are coming from (school) drop-offs,” Esparza told the Desert Sun.
The Riverside Sheriff’s Hazardous Device Team investigated the device, finding that it was fake and “did not pose any danger to students or staff,” according to a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department statement. An investigation is ongoing, and the identity or identities of the hoax perpetrators are currently unknown.
A Coachella Valley Unified School District staff member told KESQ that the school was given an all-clear around noon, with students set to return 90 minutes later.