Mesa police said a suspicious looking device in a student’s backpack forced Thursday morning’s two-hour lockdown at Red Mountain High School.
Det. Mike Mendez said police were called because of the concern. The students involved told school officials the device was a prop, he said.
“In order to be safe we’re going to have the bomb officers look at it. As a precaution, we put the school in lockdown,” Mendez said.
Mesa Unified School District spokeswoman Kathy Bareiss said the district takes everything seriously.
“Oftentimes these things are pranks. We take every single one seriously because we don’t know,” she said.
Bareiss said the students initially indicated the metal object in the backpack was an explosive device.
Police later determined it to be a piece of “pipe material,” Bareiss said.
Parents were notified of the situation by the principal through the phone notification system. Students also were told they could text their parents with cell phones during the lockdown.
