Suitcase Near School Leads to Evacuation

Fearing a bomb, authorities evacuated as many as 300 students at Sequoia Middle School in Thousand Oaks on Friday morning after an unattended suitcase was discovered near campus.

Principal Teri Scarpino called the Sheriff’s Department when the suitcase was found at 8:35 a.m., 10 minutes before school started.

Children in classrooms at the front portion of the school, close to where the suitcase was found, were evacuated. Using a portable X-ray, bomb squad members saw that the suitcase appeared to be empty, officials said.

Then, placing a small amount of explosives on the suitcase lock, the bag was opened and sheriff’s officials determined that it was indeed empty, said Sgt. Larry Meyers.

“I was greatly relieved it turned out to be a harmless object,” Scarpino said.

School officials later learned that a student had found the suitcase on his way to school and had placed it near campus to bring home later.

“The shooting in Colorado is, of course, on everybody’s mind,” Scarpino said. “Everyone responds on a human level to something as tragic as that. But with or without the incident in Colorado, we would have done exactly the same thing. You call the Sheriff’s Department and evacuate the school any time something like this is found.”