2 SLO County schools evacuated for bomb threat

A fake bomb threat at Pacific Beach High School caused students and staff to evacuate Friday morning, according to a San Luis Obispo city news release.

Around 10 a.m., the high school on Los Osos Valley Road received a phone call claiming a bomb was in one of the classrooms, according to police.

San Luis Obispo Police Department Sgt. Trevor Shalhoob said an evacuation was ordered for both Pacific Beach High School and Family Partnership Charter School on Vicente Drive due to how close they are to one another.

Police searched both schools for the bomb.

“The information that we received didn’t match up as far as what room it was supposedly in — it didn’t exist,” Shalhoob said. “Just to err on the side of caution, we searched both.”

After an immediate evacuation, San Luis Obispo Police Department and explosives-detecting K9 from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office began investigating.

When conducting a sweep that took about 30 to 45 minutes, the bomb technician and K9 did not find explosive material at either of the schools.

Police said they traced the phone call to Canada and determined the threat was a hoax, according to the news release.

Shalhoob said the call was “completely random” and showed no connection to San Luis Obispo County.

“More than likely, it’s like a Google spoof number,” Shalhoob said. “It shows like it’s coming from Canada, but it could be anywhere.”

The evacuation took no longer than 10 to 15 minutes, Shalhoob said.

Shalhoob said he didn’t know the last time there was a bomb threat at a San Luis Obispo school.

Police took a crime report, but Shalhoob said they don’t currently have a viable suspect.

This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 12:04 PM.