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Local News

September 12, 2009

Suspect held in bomb threat

Jeff Kaley

WAURIKA — With a Waurika High School student in custody of the Oklahoma Department of Juvenile Affairs, school authorities were praising the efficiency of the system in defusing a potentially dangerous situation.

On Thursday, a WHS female student informed Dale Spradlin, high school and middle school principal, that she had received a text message from a former boyfriend, who was threatening to bring guns and a pipe bomb to school. That report set in motion a chain of events that led to the male student being taken into custody, and left Waurika administrators talking about how well the system worked.

“I was so impressed that the system of handling something like this worked perfectly,” said Waurika Superintendent Roxie Terry. “The time between the threat being made and reported by the young lady until the individual was apprehended was just a few hours. There was no lag time and things were handled very well but all the agencies involved.”

Board policy in the Waurika school district requires that any threat made toward students, school personnel or school facilities be treated as fact. After the female student approached Spradlin, he notified authorities and also spoke with the female student’s grandmother.

“The girl was alarmed by the threats the boy made and she and her grandmother were very concerned, and were willing to cooperate,” said Spradlin, who then contacted Jefferson County Sheriff Michael Bryant.

Bryant sent a sheriff’s deputy to accompany Spradlin to the male student’s residence and also contacted the office of District 6 District Attorney Bret Burns, who sent an investigator.

“(The male student) had texted his girlfriend saying he was going to bring guns and a pipe bomb to school. He was tired of being bullied,” Burns said, adding that during questioning, the student admitted to having made the threats and said he had knowledge of how to make pipe bombs.

Given that information, a search warrant was obtained and although investigators did not find bomb-making materials, they did discover firearms.

Terry and Spradlin said they were not aware of a bomb threat being made against students, school personnel or school facilities during their tenures as administrators in Waurika. “We haven’t had anything like this threat made toward the welfare of the students in the time I’ve been here,” said Terry, who became superintendent in 2002.

Spradlin, who became high school and middle school principal in 2003, expressed compassion for the male student involved but felt school administrators were left with no choice but to follow up on the threats.

“We have to take something like this seriously,” he said. “I feel sorry for the young man - he’s lonely, he’d broken up with his girlfriend and he’s obviously got some problems that I hope can be addressed.

“But with the way things are these days, we have to take any type of threat like this seriously. We’re saddened by it, but we do hope it sends a message to other students that you don’t make threats like this because they will be taken seriously.

“I was very happy with the response from law enforcement and the DA’s office. Everyone involved handled things very professionally and all the agencies worked seamlessly together.”

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