All high schools, middle schools, and some elementary schools in the Capistrano Unified School District were held in “shelter in place” mode on Wednesday because of a pipe bomb threat. Students had to remain in classrooms until almost 4:00pm.

The pipe bomb threat was at San Clemente High School, however law enforcement and district officials locked down many campuses in the area.

The threat was found on an anonymous social media app, called Yik Yak around 9:00 a.m. on March 4th.  Later that morning the threat was anonymously reported  to the Orange County Sheriffs Department and about four hours after they received the call a squad of staff members and sheriffs began to investigate campuses.

Timeline of Events

9:00 AM: Threat discovered on Yik Yak.

2:02 PM:  Lori Haley, ASB Clerk, emailed teachers asking for Assistant Principal Jindra and ASB Director Brooke Valderrama to report to the principal’s office.

2:35 PM:  Staff and parents were informed that the Sheriff’s Department received an anonymous call regarding a possible threat of pipe bombs.  Students were to remain in a Shelter in Place and parents were not to come to campus at this time until the campus was completely safe.

2:50:  The students began to get anxious and students were tempted to use the emergency essentials that are placed in every classroom on campus.

3:50: The Sheriff’s Department gave SJHHS the ‘all clear’  to release students.

3:56:  Families were notified that the campus is safe and students were released from school. It was one of the last schools in the district to get released, along with San Clemente High School.

5:05: Tom Ressler sent a voicemail to parents, “San Juan Hills was never named or identified in any specific way. The lock-down was entirely precautionary.”

Sheriffs investigated all the schools in the district, even though most schools were not directly mentioned in the pipe bomb threats.

According the Orange County Sheriff’s Department there were no explosive devices found on any campus in the Capistrano Unified School District.