Many students almost got a day off from class on Tuesday when a faculty member in Mathes Hall called in a suspected bomb threat.
“She saw someone set down a long box outside of a classroom and leave, so she called us,” said Jack Cotrel, assistant director of public safety. “It was definitely suspicious.”
Some other officers from the department of public safety were on the scene and all thought it best to contact the Johnson City Fire Department.
“They looked at it and decided it was suspicious enough to evacuate the perimeter of the building, including the building beside it,” Cotrel said.
Trent Harris, chief detective of the Johnson City Police Department, sent in a few of their bomb-tech specialists to survey the scene.
While this investigation took place, a man fitting the faculty member’s description came and asked the officers if all of the commotion was because of a package in the building.
“We took him into custody there and asked him questions,” Cotrel said. “He said he had class materials in the box . he came from the VA and was tired of carrying it, so he set it outside of his next class and continued on to the administration building to run his errand.”
According to Cotrel, the man had no malicious intent.
“The proper procedures were followed,” Cotrel said. “We knew what we had to deal with and had the potential to be dealing with.” Some students were given that day off from class, but others made it to the area just as the police tape was removed.
“We got an `all clear’ as soon as we could,” Cotrel said. “Fortunately it was a false alarm.”
“At the least it was a good exercise,” he said. “We’re having a follow-up meeting next week on the actions that were taken.
I doubt there was a lot that we did wrong, but we always have to be prepared,” Cotrel said.

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