Utah Elementary School Evacuated After Pipe Bomb Found

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

Utah elementary school evacuated after pipe bomb found
By Laura Zuckerman
Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:36pm EDT

By Laura Zuckerman

(Reuters) - Nearly 800 students and teachers were evacuated from a suburban Utah elementary school on Monday after a custodian found a pipe bomb on the roof, a school official said.

No one was injured and police detonated the bomb using a high-pressure water cannon at Mountain View Elementary School in Layton, about 25 miles north of Salt Lake City, said school district spokesman Christopher Williams.

The custodian removed the bomb from the roof and then alerted the school principal, who called police, said Williams.

"Why he did that and where he took it, we're not sure. He put himself in a dangerous situation," Williams said of the custodian.

Read more: Link to source

[bushisanidiot]

1. Why was he cleaning the roof?

Sounds suspicious

[Moosepoop]

5. Where did it say that he was cleaning the roof?

The article (linked downthread) doesn't say what he had gone to the roof for, though it did mention a different custodian having been up there a few days ago to retrieve a ball. That could be what this custodian was doing also, or he may have been cleaning or addressing a problem with a heating/AC unit located up there. I used to have to do that at a restaurant I worked at.

They do have surveillance video that might shed some light on the bomb being placed there.

http://fox13now.com/2013/04/22/mountain-view-elem-in-layton-evacuated-in-bomb-scare-all-students-safe/

[Samantha]

7. Maybe the roof leaked

Maybe he was cleaning out the gutters. Two of my neighbors are always climbing onto the roof of their house to get tree limbs off. I think this was an extremely brave, selfless act, but hopefully people will think better of removing the bomb, and just evacuate the premises and call the police. I think he thought he was acting in the best interests of the people inside, just my opinion.

Sam

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Probably getting a ball.

Our custodian gets one (or more) off of our roof at least once a week.

On edit - now that I've read the article I see it was a maintenance worker, not a custodian. And there are lots of reasons a maintenance worker would be on the roof. Maybe that's where the a/c machinery is located and he was up there doing routine maintenance.

[Rebl]

10. You are probably right

Most likely doing routine maintenance.

[defacto7]

13. A family friend

a 17 year old was killed after falling through a sky light on the roof a a school here in Utah a couple of years ago. Many of those roofs are very accessible with ladders on the outside walls. It would be nothing for anyone including a janitor on regular work duty to access without a second thought.

[MichiganVote]

2. You know, its a pretty piss poor society in which little kids become the

battleground for the disenfranchised, the crazy, the self centered bastards, the economic policies, and the just plain fucked up bastards.

No matter what is wrong, kids don't deserve it.

[Samantha]

6. I could not agree with you more

It is frightening.

Sam

[MichiganVote]

9. Really something isn't it.

And people still insist that people who work in schools are just plain greedy union type thugs.

[Samantha]

12. Similarly, I was thinking after all the Bostonian people were so thrilled with the police

response after the attack, "Now will they insist policemen should be given huge raises?" Policemen, firefighters, and teachers to me are the most important people in our society. They are also the least financially rewarded. It is just wrong. The policemen in my area in Maryland have not been given a cost of living raise in 5 years. The paid firefighters in my town were transferred to other stations, and their positions were given to volunteers. I can't believe it, really.

It is just wrong when little kids cannot go to school without fear for their safety.

What is wrong with our society?

Sam

[olddots]

3. This is frightening in so many ways

N.T.

[Gore1FL]

4. The missing link (pun intended):

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/22/us-usa-school-evacuation-idUSBRE93L14D20130422

[Ash_F]

11. Copy cats coming out now?

This sucks.

[citizen blues]

14. I grew up in the bomb threat capitol of the United States.....

There were more bomb threats per capita in Boulder, CO when I was a kid than any other place in the country. We had bomb threats called into my elementary school at least a couple of times a year. The fire department would go through the school with bomb-sniffing dogs while we played outside. (Extra recess! Yay!!!)

One spring day they found a make-shift, home-made pipe bomb in a janitor's closet. A teenager had built it and sent it to school with his little brother. They sent us all home. I was only 6 or 7 years old and begged my teacher to let me go back in the school to get my sweater. I told her, "My mom's gonna kill me if I lose another sweater." She reassured me that it would be okay. My mom would understand, and that I could come back tomorrow and get it. It would be safe.

I finally relented and started walking home. I walked around to the front of the school and my heart froze. There was a line of emergency vehicles like I had never seen before: police cars, fire trucks of all sizes, and even an ambulance. I got scared and knew something was really wrong. This wasn't our usual bomb threat/extra recess routine with the dogs sniffing my school. This was bad. I knew they found something and all of a sudden, our little rhymes about the school burning down that we used to sing when the dogs came with the firemen, didn't seem so funny anymore.

It's been over 40 years, but that day is still with me.