Spring Hill student arrested after explosive found

One student was arrested Friday after an explosive device was found in a boys bathroom stall at Spring Hill High School.

The student was arrested on charges of possession of an explosive device, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct, Maury County Sheriff Bucky Rowland said.

"It was a suspicious device and we wanted to make sure that we took every precaution to make sure it was rendered safe," Rowland said.

A school staff member found the device sitting on a stall hand rail in an upstairs bathroom, causing school officials to evacuate about 900 students Friday morning, Rowland said.

"This was definitely a very serious situation this morning and throughout the day," said Mark Blackwood, director of Maury County Emergency Management. "Of course multiple local, state and federal agencies responded and worked together to successfully handle this situation."

According to a Tennessee Highway Patrol news release, the agency sent its Special Operations Bomb Team to the scene, where technicians placed the device into what is known as a "fragmentation bag."

Once it was in the bag, the news release said, bomb technicians moved it to a safe location away from the school.

Then, the release said, technicians used a Percussion Actuated Neutralizer, or PAN, which uses a 12-gauge shotgun shell or a water jet to essentially explode the contents of a package.

Once the bag's contents were dislodged, a HAZMAT team checked oxygen levels in the area to ensure that conditions were safe, the release said.

Blackwood said that the device "appeared to be very elaborate in the design and makeup of it," though he couldn't say specifically what it was made of.

Nevertheless, Blackwood said, "Based on the intelligence that was gathered, it had the real potential for potential bodily harm."

The chemicals are being analyzed and the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Students and staff were safely evacuated to Spring Hill Middle School, according to a Facebook post by Maury County Public Schools. Students who drove or walked to school were dismissed and buses took riders from the high school to the middle school. The students were served lunch before their parents picked them up at the middle school.

All high school parents were notified via the emergency call system.

Staff writers Holly Meyer and Jill Cowan contributed to this report.



Reach Collin Czarnecki at 615-852-1130 and on Twitter @CollinReports.



