Bomb-Threat Notes at Highland Park High School Leave Nothing Open to Interpretation

UP and Dallas police turned out Thursday after a second bomb threat surfaced at Highland Park High School. Staff photo: Chris McGathey

University Park Police Capt. Leon Holman tells me the two “suspicious notes” found yesterday and Wednesday at Highland Park High School — both of them bomb threats — were printed in block letters and seem to have been written by the same person. Their wording is about as blunt as it gets: “Bomb hidden in building call 911,” and “I made a homemade bomb and I have a pistol.”

A search last night with bomb-sniffing dogs resulted in a couple of benign false alerts — cleaning products and a spilled chemistry beaker — but the process was so involved that the school had to delay a ceremonial banquet for its volleyball players, evacuate the building again, and finally cancel the banquet altogether, said HPISD spokeswoman Helen Williams.

“It’s a shame that a threat would cancel a celebration for our students,” Williams said.

University Park police have begun interviewing students, Holman said, “but nothing has panned out yet.” Terroristic threats as such are a Class D B misdemeanor.

“If this is someone who’s suffering in some way,” Williams said, “then we want to help them. But acting in this way is not constructive; it’s destructive, and it puts people on edge unnecessarily.”

By Georgia Fisher Jan. 18, 2013 | 11:24 am | 3 Comments | Comments RSS
3 comments to "Bomb-Threat Notes at Highland Park High School Leave Nothing Open to Interpretation "
  1. Jonathan Apgar, Esq. @ January 18, 2013 at 12:44 pm
    I believe there needs to be a correction made to this article. A bomb threat is not a “terroristic threat” and there is no such thing as a “Class D misdemeanor” in Texas.

    A bomb threat constitutes an offense known as “False Alarm or Report” under Sec. 42.06 of the Texas Penal Code. If the bomb threat is made against a public school, it is a State Jail Felony punishable by 180 days to 2 years in a state jail facility and a fine of up to $10,000.00.

  2. Georgia Fisher @ January 18, 2013 at 2:15 pm
    Jonathan,

    Per Capt. Holman, it’s a terroristic threat under Sec. 22.07 of the Texas Penal Code. I just misheard or mistyped the “Class D” part, however — you’re right.

    This one’s a Class B misdemeanor, though I’m told they may be able to bump it up to a single felony if the threats (now three of them) are all attributed to one person. Guess we’ll see.

  3. Jonathan M. Apgar, Esq. @ January 18, 2013 at 5:35 pm
    It looks like it can be charged either as a terroristic threat under 22.07, or a false alarm under 42.06, as based on the allegations the offense would fit both those statutes.

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