The Shadow
FINCASTLE – Botetourt County authorities have traced nearly simultaneous telephone threats that emptied two Botetourt County schools shortly before noon Wednesday to a southeast Roanoke pay phone and are seeking assistance from persons in the area in identifying a possible suspect, Botetourt County Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle said.
Classes were dismissed for the day at James River High School. Students at Eagle Rock Elementary School were sent to Breckenridge Elementary School where they were fed lunch and later were picked up by buses. A bomb was specifically mentioned in the call to the elementary school. A danger was implied on the call to the high school.
Sheriff Sprinkle said that the calls came from a pay phone at a Unimart at 1219 Jamison Avenue, Roanoke. Officers are in the process of examining security cameras in that area, and are asking the public for any information regarding activity at that telephone between 11 and 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Persons with any information are asked to call the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office at 540-473-8230.
Eighteen sheriff’s deputies, five Botetourt County fire departments and five rescue units were occupied for nearly three hours at the two locations before the schools were cleared at 2 p.m. the sheriff said in discussing the degree of disruption and operational costs that resulted from the two hoaxes. Virginia State Police and Roanoke County provided bomb-sniffing dogs.
