JENNINGS COUNTY — Investigators in Jennings County say two threats to Jennings County schools at around the lunch hour Thursday were hoaxes.
North Vernon police said a bomb threat was “air dropped” to an iPhone at 12:11 p.m. to a student who was in the Jennings County High School cafeteria. The name of the iPhone used to send the air drop was reported to be “There’s a bomb at JCHS.” Upon opening the air drop, it was a photograph of a male and female sitting on a couch, police said.
At 12:20 p.m., the student reported the air drop to high school staff and School Resource Officer Matt Staples, who is a North Vernon police officer.
Jennings County schools were then placed on lockdown and Staples and school staff cleared the cafeteria. Students were then evacuated to Jennings County Middle School.
Homeland Security Officer Scott Crane was called to the high school with a K9 trained in explosives detection, and assisted by Jennings County Sheriff deputies and Indiana State Police, determined there were no explosives, guns or other weapons in the building.
Officers from the North Vernon Police department, Indiana Conservation officers and Indiana Excise Police also went to the scene.
At that time, another air drop was sent out to the Jennings County Middle School with a photograph of a gun, police said. The middle school was also being searched at that time. Searches of the schools continued, and accountability of students and staff were taking place. No guns, explosives, or other weapons were located in the middle school. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the photo of the gun was taken on Jan. 1, 2023 at 1:23 a.m. at a different location, and not on school property, investigators said.
After both schools were determined to be safe, high school students were sent back to the high school and then released to their parents or for bus rides home.
An investigation is continuing into the threats, police said.
