The Condon Grade School was put on lockdown, along with the high school and the Condon Early Learning Center last week. A bomb threat was phoned in on December 17. (Condon School District)
Another bomb hoax has occurred at the Condon School, nearly one year after a series of bomb threats triggered evacuations in schools throughout the state.
On Tuesday, December 17, just before 3:30 p.m., and as students were preparing to be released for the day, the Condon School received a phone call from an unknown number. The caller said that there was a bomb in a building and another outside on school grounds. The caller was a male, with a European accent, said Gilliam County Sheriff Gary Bettencourt.
The Condon High School and Grade School went into lockdown procedures, as did the Condon Early Learning Center.
While law enforcement personnel from the Gilliam County Sheriff's Office and Oregon State Police rushed to the scene, students feared that there was an active shooter in the building. The faculty and students were asked to remain in the building while law enforcement conducted an assessment and did a search of the property.
Students then were led to the football field where there were several law enforcement personnel, responders with the South Gilliam Ambulance Service, and fire engines with the South Gilliam Co. Rural Fire Protection District.
Sheriff Bettencourt said that he understands there were some frustrations as first responders and the school could not release kids due to the active threat.
"I honestly think the school did an outstanding job with their reaction," said Sheriff Bettencourt.
The bomb threat seems to be an anomaly compared to the hoaxes from last year.
On December 11, 2023, eighteen bomb threats were issued to schools, airports, and religious institutions by email. The threats seemed to come alphabetically for schools, with Arlington receiving the first bomb threat, and then Condon later that day, and schools like Central Linn, Colton, and Corbett also getting bomb threats by email.
This time, Condon seems to have been singled out, and no other schools have reported a similar threat.
FBI agents from the Pendleton Office are investigating the crime. Agents are working to trace the call, but that will be challenging. The emergence of internet-based phone calls, which use generated phone numbers, hide the caller's identity and are nearly impossible to trace.
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