GSU bomb threat under investigation

GRAMBLING — Authorities have some “ very vital leads” in Thursday morning’s bomb threat on the Grambling State University campus, GSU Police Chief Rodney Demery said.

Whoever called in the threat on the school’s nursing building should turn themselves in, because they’re going to get caught, he said.

“We’re going to continue until we find out who did it,” Demery said.

The incident disrupted classes and caused students to shelter in place for almost four hours. After what Demery called an “inch-to-inch” sweep of the nursing building that found nothing, law enforcement issued an all-clear and lifted the shelter- in-place at 12:27 p.m.

The threat was called in to the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office shortly after 8 a. m. Thursday, but before the dispatcher could transfer the call to GSU, the caller hung up, LPSO spokesman Lt. Matt Henderson said.

Other area law enforcement agencies reportedly also received the call through their 9-1-1 systems.

At approximately 8:43 a.m. GSU officials sent an alert to students telling them to shelter in place. University police evacuated the nursing building as well as the adjacent Jacob T. Stewart Hall business building, the Conrad Hutchinson Performing Arts Center, and the Charles P. Adams Hall education building.

People evacuated from the four buildings located on the west side of the campus were directed to the GSU intramural center. In addition to GSU police, Grambling city police, parish sheriff ’ s deputies, Louisiana State Police and FBI agents responded to the threat.

Police did an initial search, then went back inside to do a more thorough investigation.

“We’re certainly relentless in this endeavor,” Demery said.

Bomb threats aren’t uncommon, but all are taken seriously, he said.

Demery asked anyone with information about the threat to call GSUPD at 318-274-2222, the Grambling City Police at 318-247-3771, or the Louisiana State Police.