Santa Monica High School Off Lockdown After Bomb Threat; “No Suspicious Items Were Found”, Police Say – Update

Erik Pedersen
·2 min read

UPDATED with SMPD statement, 2:36 PM: Santa Monica High School is off lockdown after a bomb threat this afternoon. Police searched the campus and said “no suspicious items were found” and that “students are exiting the classrooms and are being released for the day. Read more about the situation below.

PREVIOUSLY, 1:35 PM: Santa Monica High School is on lockdown after a phone operator received a bomb threat just before noon. Police are on the scene, and students have been told to shelter in place.

Police said at 12:48 p.m. that “no device or suspicious items have been located” but that officers are continuing to “conduct a precautionary search of the area.”

The school is across the street from the Santa Monica Police and Fire departments’ headquarters.

Principal Marae Cruce sent out an alert addressing “the Samohi Family,” saying that “at about 11:42 a.m. the switchboard operator received a phoned bomb threat, alleging the bomb was set to go off within 5 minutes. The school contacted the police immediately following this phone call. The is currently in Shelter-in-Place, and all students are safely in classrooms.”

Cruce added that “the security team, Santa Monica Police Department and administrators are currently sweeping the campus.”

More than a century old, Santa Monica High School is at 601 Pico Blvd., bordered by Olympic Boulevard on the north, 4th Street on the west and 7th Street on the east. The school has been the site of movie productions including Rebel without a Cause (1955) and 17 Again (2009), and its famous alumni range from Glenn Ford, Joan Blondell and Robert Wagner to Robert Downey Jr, Sean Penn, Rob Lowe, Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez and Ronda Rousey.

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