Multiple Bomb Threats Brought to Resolve

JOHNNY HUYNH
Staff Writer

Since January, a tune has become more familiar to AHS students and faculty. The sequence of three short, three long, then another three short rings—Morse code for S-O-S—calls for the safety procedure required in a campus-wide lockdown.

The earliest encounter was on a Friday, Jan. 13, when the school received a call from an unidentified person during fourth period.

In response, the entire school engaged in a lockdown as officials notified local authorities. Shortly after noon, students were evacuated to the track field as the entire campus was searched for explosives by the Alhambra Police Department and canine forces. Having the rest of the instructional day disrupted, students were released at 2:30 pm, which was near the normal dismissal time.

The incident introduced a series of bomb threat-related lockdowns that took time in various parts of the day, sometimes in the morning and after-school hours. There have been a total of eight lockdowns related to the same incident.

According to Principal Brad Walsh, the threats were costly interruptions to the school budget, since resource use drifted away from instructional time and campus maintenance. The amount of work interrupted on those days had to be compensated in overtime shifts, particularly for custodial services.

“The [interruptions] were a waste of time, when it could have been used for our education,” senior Andrew Tang said.

However, the school has certain priorities depending on a given situation. Every call received was approached with the impression that they were all equally fatal. Thorough and immediate searches conducted right after the calls indicated nonexistent danger, but there was no room for taking chances in assuming the least of the threats. As it turns out, the calls were fraudulent.

“I thought the [lockdown] was scary at first. but not [the ones] afterwards; it was probably people trying to get out of class,” freshman Kyle Altamirano said.

Frequent safety measures are still taking place to ensure that the campus is safe.

“Safety first, then education,” Walsh said. “When I [became principal], I did not expect to be the first one to look for the bomb.”

After an extensive investigation by authorities, two perpetrators—a current student and an alumnus—were taken into custody on March 16, after their last call-in. Their identities are not disclosed, as they are going to be tried in court on a charge of felony. Investigators are organizing a case to be presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney office.

“What bothered me the most was the possibility that other people [could have known] and did not say anything to stop it,” Walsh said.

Since the arrest of the perpetrators, there have been flyers around campus asking students to cooperate and report any tips tied to the bomb-related threats.

“This comes to show that our school can handle these situations,” senior Diana Chau said. “I feel our school is pretty safe because of how our school can react so quickly.”