Bomb threat reported at Harlingen South stuns community

HARLINGEN — Anxious parents gathered outside Harlingen High School South Tuesday morning after the school was placed on lockdown when a bomb threat was reported.
“Sometime between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., here at Harlingen High School South, a note was found stating that there was a bomb hidden somewhere within the school,” Harlingen Police Department Sgt. John Parrish said.
Three Brownsville police dog teams joined Harlingen police and firefighters and school security officers in the search. One of three dogs brought to the school was a bomb-sniffing dog, Parrish said.
David Garcia, manager of an H&R Block office on 13th Street, said he had come to the school to pick up his daughter for a dental appointment.
“I expected this in my native (Los Angeles), where all the drive-bys (shootings) and stuff happens, but not here in a small town,” he said. “My heart just kind of dropped. I wouldn’t expect this in a small town like this.”
Rachel Olivarez, whose son is a freshman at South, said she also was concerned.
“I believe that HPD is doing the safe thing for the kids,” she said. “It’s their main priority. … We just want to pull our kids out.”
Jennifer Chavez, the mother of a daughter who is a freshman at the school, waited anxiously for news.
“I’m hoping it’s a prank, but I’m pretty worried,” she said.
Luis Betancourt said he doesn’t have a child at the school but his mother’s home health care provider has a daughter who is a student there and was very worried.
He was shocked such an event happened at HHS South, Betancourt said.
“Not on this campus,” he said. “This stuff happens all the time in other school districts.”
“Now with Facebook and all this stuff, it’s hard to keep these things hush-hush,” Betancourt said.
School district officials said the bomb threat resulted in the campus keeping students in their second period classrooms for an extra 60 minutes.
“As per district safety procedure, the building was cleared and deemed safe by campus administration and by Harlingen police,” school officials said.
“Students were kept in their classrooms, and the campus was locked down as per district safety protocol.
“The sweep of the building took an extended amount of time as police took extra precaution in clearing the building.”
allene@valleystar.com