Students at Parkway Middle School, located at 3600 NW Fifth Court in Lauderhill, were evacuated Wednesday morning after an apparent bomb threat. While Lauderhill Police are not revealing the specifics, they did say that it's being treated as a "credible threat."
According to police, a resource officer at the school called Lauderhill Police to notify them of the threat around 8 a.m. Wednesday. The school was put on lockdown, and some students were taken to an athletic field while police responded. Others were allowed to go over to the nearby La Cathedral Pentecostal Church parking lot, where they could call their parents to come pick them up. The school notified parents and told them they could pick up their children if they wanted to.
Students at Broward Estates Elementary School, which is not far from Parkway Middle, were also evacuated as a precaution.
"The information that was passed along to our school resource officer to his skills, and his experience, he believed it to be a very credible threat," Lauderhill Police Lt. Gregory Solowsky told the press after police responded. "Based on that information, we went ahead and evacuated the school."
Police activity in the area of Parkway Middle 3600 NW 6 Ct. Reference to a school evacuation.
— LauderhillPDPIO (@LPDPIO) March 4, 2015#BREAKING: Parkway Middle School at 3600 NW 5th Ct in Lauderhill evacuated after bomb threat, BSO bomb squad on scene pic.twitter.com/wjfxjkdOjw
— WSVN-TV (@wsvn) March 4, 2015UPDATE: Bomb Squad and Bomb k9 on the way. Evacuating nearby residences.. Ref To Parkway middle school receiving a bomb threat.
— BREAKING NEWS (@JohnMir12) March 4, 2015The all-clear was given at 11:30 a.m. and students that remained were able to go back to their classes and resume normal school schedules. Police say they're still investigating, and are treating the threat very seriously, though they're not revealing much to the press since it's an active investigation.
"The specifics on why we believe it to be credible, at this point we are not quite ready to release," Solowsky said.
This isn't the first time Parkway Middle has had to lockdown over a bomb threat.
In December, Parkway, along with Seminole Middle and Plantation Middle, were placed on lockdown after someone called the police telling them they had planted bombs in all three schools that would detonate before dismissal. The threat turned out to be a hoax.
Also, in October, the school, as well as Broward Estates, were placed on lockdown as cops searched for a hit-and-run suspect who had fled on foot in the area.
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