Bomb threat turns out to be hoax

By Laban Pelz

A bomb threat cleared the social sciences building of students and faculty for nearly two hours Wednesday.

According to campus police, dispatch received a call at 10:40 a.m. Wednesday from a male voice saying an unspecified number of bombs were in the building that would detonate at 2 and 3 p.m. Fresno State Police Chief Michael Dunlap said that was the extent of the call.

“ There were no demands, and we are not able to trace the call,” he said.

At 10 minutes before noon, social sciences administration was instructed to empty the building of occupants, said Dean of social sciences Luz Gonzalez, who estimated the number of students in the building at “a couple hundred.”

Campus safety personnel and police stood at all entrances to keep people from entering.

“ All necessary precautions were taken. We went classroom to classroom, saying the air conditioning was going to be fixed, and we needed to leave,” Gonzalez said. “Once out of the building, we were able to tell the truth.”

Fresno State authorities waited until noon to clear the building, though the threat was received more then an hour earlier, to “give time to search inside,” Dunlap said.

Students and staff finished filing out of the building 10 minutes after noon, and police taped off a perimeter after 1 p.m. In the hour between these two events, students who remained stood close to the building.

“ The outside has already been secured,” Lt. Jim Lusk of campus police said. “If it wasn’t, they wouldn’t be there.”

A Fresno County Sheriff’s Department canine unit arrived soon after the building was cleared of people. The unit searched with two dogs for more than an hour and determined there were no bombs. The caution tape came down at 1:40 p.m., and students and faculty were allowed to reenter and attend classes.

“ Nothing was found. No bombs, no traces,” University Spokesman Shirley Melikian-Armbruster said.

After police deemed there was no danger, reasons for the bomb threat were discussed.

Some cited classroom testing as a possible cause.

“ (Bomb threats) are called in primarily to get out of tests,” Dunlap said.

One student had another idea.

Diana Gonzalez, a senior political science major, said a former member of the People for the Ethical Treatment of animals, Gary Yourofsky, was scheduled to speak in her political science class at noon.

“ I have a feeling that’s the reason that all this happened,” Gonzalez said.

But Dean Gonzalez disagreed.

“ No, it had nothing to do with that,” she said.

“ Right about this time (in the semester) there are midterms,” said Dean Gonzalez, though she said she wasn’t aware of any specific tests being given Wednesday, and didn’t hold to the theory that a student called in the bomb threat to get out of a test.

“ Probably someone was upset, and was giving us a hard time,” she said.

Three professors who sat outside the social sciences building waiting for reentry said they were not giving tests Wednesday. The rarity of such threats at Fresno State was also brought up.

“ In the 1970s it (bomb threats) was quite often, but in recent years it’s been minimal,” Melikian-Armbruster said.

Dunlap agreed, saying bomb threats at Fresno State are “very infrequent.”