By Michael Dashiell
Olympic Peninsula News Group
SEQUIM — Sequim police are investigating a phoned-in threat that prompted the evacuation of Sequim Middle School and put Sequim schools on lockdown Thursday.
Detective Sgt. Sean Madison with the Sequim Police Department said a front office staff member at the school received at about 9:30 a.m. what sounded like a recorded message threatening to bring harm to students if certain demands weren’t met by 10:45 a.m.
Madison declined to release what those demands were, as the case is still being investigated.
Led by School Resources Officer Randy Kellas, officers conducted two searches of the school — one before the 10:45 a.m. threat deadline, one after — and found nothing that was cause for concern, Madison said.
“The school resource officer knows the school, what doesn’t belong there,” Madison said.
Sequim Middle School students were sent to Sequim High School’s gymnasium soon after their school’s office received the threat.
They were released and returned to class at about 11 a.m. Parents/guardians who wanted to pick up their students were allowed to do so at the Sequim High parking lot.
Madison said law enforcement officials are investigating the threat as a crime.
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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at editor@sequimgazette.com.