Mesa High School evacuated due to bomb threat, no explosives found

By Mark Carlisle
Twitter: @mwcarlisle

Mesa High School students were evacuated Wednesday due to a bomb threat. As of Wednesday afternoon, Mesa police has found no evidence of any explosive devices on campus.

About 3,000 students were evacuated from the campus at Gilbert Road and Southern Avenue on Mesa Public Schools buses to nearby Mountain View High School. Mesa police and fire assisted in the evacuations. At least three students were treated for heat-related illnesses during the evacuation process, but no other injuries were reported.

Traffic was redirected around the school beginning Wednesday morning but was reopened late Wednesday afternoon.

Mesa Police Public Information Officer Rico Encinas said the bomb threat came via a 911 call. He said police had found no evidence of an explosive device but was still actively going through campus buildings at the time of his statement on late Monday morning. Encinas said he did not want to give away police techniques to track the 911 call that made the threat or other techniques to identify a suspect.

Encinas addressed rumors circulating Wednesday that there was also a threat at Westwood High School in Mesa. He said police had not received any report of threats made against Westwood.

Mark Carlisle
Associate Editor | Phoenix
@mwcarlisle

mcarlisle@iniusa.org

Meet Mark

Mark Carlisle joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, covering Glendale. He has since moved to the Daily Independent team, primarily covering the city of Phoenix along with other topics affecting the Valley at-large.

Community: Mark enjoys taking his two young sons to parks, the Phoenix Zoo, the Phoenix Public Library  and other fun events around the Valley. He also participates in a local book club.

Education: Chapman University with a BA in English Journalism and one in Screenwriting.

Random Fact: Mark worked at a tuxedo shop in college. Just don’t ask him to tie a bowtie.

 Hobbies: Spending time with his wife, sons and dog, watching sports and TV shows, listening to audiobooks and occasionally writing fiction or designing a board game.