Bomb threat prompts Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center evacuations

UPDATE: May 10, 2017, 10:55 p.m. PST This story has been updated to include time officials lifted the evacuation order.

A bomb threat prompted evacuations at the Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center–displacing at least 100 Aztec High School students and about another hundred employees from the Justice Center Administration building. Officials say their reception area received a phone call describing a bomb threat Wednesday afternoon.

Tim Hardy, Director of the Justice Center, says the call came in around noon–stating that there was a bomb onsite. Hardy says that they immediately took action–reporting the incident to the Yuma Police Department.

Sergeant Lori Franklin says YPD officers responded to the call; however, they did not find signs of a bomb.

Hardy states that although there is potential for the incident to just be a hoax, they decided to immediately evacuate the Juvenile Justice Center Administration building and Aztec High School to ensure that all individuals were safe.

At least 100 Aztec High School students were dismissed from school early.

The Yuma County Juvenile Detention Center was not evacuated, but put on lockdown. Hardy says the building is secure and sturdy enough that a potential bomb could not get in the building or affect it.

Law Enforcement is investigating the source of the bomb threat. Officials say the building was cleared around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon after U.S. Marine Corps bomb dogs searched the area–not finding anything suspicious.