A bomb threat Thursday morning prompted the evacuation of Ben Lomond High School and a search of the facility and its grounds, which continued into the afternoon.
Whether the threat was legitimate or a hoax is “still ultimately to be determined,” said Ogden Police Capt. Tim Scott. But he said information authorities learned after the initial call to Weber County dispatchers reporting a bomb “essentially required us to respond in the manner we responded. We’re treating this as an active school threat.”
All students had been cleared out of the high school as of noon, with the rest of classes cancelled for the day. Ogden School District Superintendent Luke Rasmussen said classes at the school would resume on Friday, according to Scott.
“Ben Lomond High School is a large campus and ... our No. 1 priority at school is student safety, so we want to make sure that the school is clear and that it’s safe for students,” Scott said. A SWAT team from the police department was aiding in the search, along with K-9 teams and a drone team.
Still, Scott downplayed the potential of a broader, lingering threat, though the investigation continues. “If we felt that there was a community threat, we would have communicated that to the community. We don’t believe there’s any kind of immediate threat around the school,” he said.
In March 2023, Ogden High School and several other Utah schools were targeted by a series of phone calls, ultimately deemed to be hoaxes, by callers falsely reporting that active shooters were in the facilities. Police and law enforcement quickly descended on Ogden High School, carrying out a search, as students remained locked in their classrooms.