Around 20 adults were evacuated from Lincoln Middle School campus at approximately 12:50 p.m. on Tuesday due to a bomb threat received via email.
Members of the Santa Monica Police Department searched the perimeter and grounds at 1501 California Ave. and did not locate any device or suspicious items.
The perimeter was temporarily closed to pedestrians and vehicular access and reported as clear at 1:55 p.m., according to SMPD Public Information Officer Rudy Flores.
The bomb threat email was received by a Lincoln Middle School staff member at around 11:45 am, according to Flores. This individual called the police at 12:45 p.m. and a team was immediately dispatched to the site.
The initial investigation was conducted by patrol officers and the Unarmed Aircraft System team who utilized drones to search the area.
"A report will be written with whatever information the officers come up with and evidence they find. All that will be relayed and forwarded to the detectives in the Criminal Investigation Division to conduct a follow up," said Flores.
Evacuated individuals included teachers who were conducting distance learning from their classrooms. These teachers' classes were cancelled for the rest of the day. No students were on campus at the time.
SMMUSD Superintendent Ben Drati sent an email to Santa Monica families, staff, and community members alerting them to the incident at 1:32 p.m., after on-campus personnel were evacuated.
Evacuated personnel were allowed to reenter campus once SMPD reported the area as clear. SMMUSD community members were altered that the area was safe via a follow up email at 2:37 p.m.
Clara@smdp.com
