GPD makes arrest in GHS bomb threat case

The Gainesville Police Department (GPD) announced that detectives have arrested a student in connection with the Gainesville High School (GHS) bomb threat on Wednesday. 

“Detectives received tips from School Resource Officers and students the following day and were able to develop probable cause for the arrest,” GPD reported in a Facebook post. “The suspect is currently being held at the Juvenile Detention Center pending a detention hearing.”

GPD did not name the student suspect but noted the person is a minor facing charges of “false report concerning planting a bomb, an explosive, or a weapon of mass destruction” and “unlawful use of a two-way communications device.” 

GPD personnel responded to GHS on Wednesday after someone called in a bomb threat to a school office. Officers cleared the area and found nothing suspicious, but official sent students home for the day. 

“Traffic was tied up for hours during the evacuation and clearing of the school, as well as many cumulative hours of GPD resources used in assisting,” the GPD Facebook post said. 

GHS received a second bomb threat on Thursday, but the GPD statement did not link it to the unidentified student arrested Friday. 

ACPS schools have experienced 13 bomb threats since the start of the school year, including four at Buchholz High School, four at Newberry High School, one at Eastside High School, one at Oak View Middle School and one at Newberry Elementary School.

The Friday arrest marks the fourth in the ongoing investigations, which have included FBI support. Authorities arrested 17-year-old Buchholz High School student Preston Powers on Sept. 13 in connection to two of the Buchholz threats, and Alachua County Sheriff Clovis Watson announced that the teen would be prosecuted as an adult.

On Thursday Alachua County Sheriff’s Office deputies took two students into custody in connection with the Newberry incidents, which included six bomb threats and at least two sniper threats.