Posted on: Saturday, March 22, 2003
Student arrested in public school bomb-threat case
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Police arrested a 17-year-old Kaiser High School boy yesterday who is suspected of making the bomb threat that prompted an islandwide alert to O'ahu public schools earlier this month.
Police arrested the student on the Hawai'i Kai campus and booked him at police headquarters for investigation of first-degree terroristic threatening.
Police Capt. Alan Arita said the boy is also suspected of being involved in a Feb. 27 bomb threat at the school.
"We heard he's actually a good student, with good grades," Arita said.
"He just made a bad decision."
The suspect is the fourth Kaiser High student arrested in the past month for allegedly phoning in bomb threats to their school.
As word got around campus as to who may have played a part in making bomb threats on Feb. 27 and 28 and March 5, police developed information that led them to the 17-year-old, Arita said.
"There was some word of kids bragging," Arita said.
Police believe that the four boys who were arrested know one another.
Another tip was that the March 5 call — the one that sparked the alert — was made from a cell phone that transmitted the call via an antenna on Koko Head, not far from Kaiser High.
The phone, which was reported stolen, is not the suspect's, police said.
The March 5 caller told a 911 operator that a bomb was placed at an O'ahu school and would explode two days later.
The Department of Education sent notices to parents informing them of the threat, although schools were not closed.
A search of campuses turned up nothing, but attendance at some schools dropped noticeably on March 7.
"We receive bomb threats at a number of schools, but we normally investigate the matter confidentially not to cause panic or encourage copycats," said Greg Knudsen, Department of Education spokesman.
The department sent the advisory letters in this case because initial police information didn't specify a particular school.
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110.
