Police evacuate library due to bomb threat

A bomb threat occurred on the Cosumnes River College campus on Wednesday morning.

CRC students received multiple notifications alerting them of the bomb threat, including a text, emails to personal and Los Rios email accounts, and a phone call at approximately 11:40 a.m.

The alerts stated that police had reported a bomb threat in the library of the CRC campus and indicated that students should maintain their distance from the building, according to the alert sent out to the campus.

The official CRC campus Twitter account also sent out a tweet containing the same information as the campus alerts.

The Sacramento Police Department was called to investigate the bomb threat and said it would send in bomb-sniffing dogs, said CRC Public Information Officer Kristie West.

West added that a suspect was taken into custody because the suspect left a backpack behind in the library and had made a threat previously.

Classes and offices located in the library were closed, and students and staff were evacuated from the building.

Officials were posted at the entrances of the library in order to stop people from entering the library.

Other areas of the campus were deemed safe and remained open to students and staff.

Students with canceled classes, faculty evacuated from their offices and curious passersby gathered in groups outside of the library in confusion, curiosity and annoyance.

Twenty-three-year-old culinary arts major Kaydee Robbins said the situation was inconvenient for her schedule, and that she could not use the library to study for her classes at the time.

“My teacher is very strict and we have a lot of homework every single day,” said Robbins. “I spend so much time in the library, and I need that time to study and do homework.”

Lora Stewart, a mathematics and statistics professor, said she was also inconvenienced as she would have to postpone classes and delay necessary study time for her class.

“It just causes problems because we have class and we have a test,” said Stewart. “A lot of students got the notification and won’t show up, so they’ll be at a disadvantage.”

More police officials arrived on campus and multiple resources were utilized to expand the perimeter around the library to include the walkways surrounding the building as the investigation continued.

Police officials cordoned off the walkway between the Community Athletic Center and Physical Education buildings with caution tape, where they gathered to monitor the progressing situation.

Officials with bomb-sniffing dogs also arrived on campus and conducted a search of the library.

At 12:38 p.m., CRC tweeted that the SPD, Homeland Security and FBI were on campus to investigate the bomb threat.

After almost three hours of investigation, another alert and tweet were sent out to the campus stating that the police had ruled the library building as cleared and safe.

The alert added that the police did not find a bomb, and that the building was reopened for student and faculty use.