Updated at 3:26 a.m., Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Bomb threat to VaTech president's office 'unfounded'
Bloomberg News Service
A bomb threat today in the president's office at Virginia Tech University, where 33 people were killed earlier this week, was "unfounded," a Virginia State Police tactical team concluded.The "possible bomb threat" was received in President Charles Steger's office in Burruss Hall, said assistant director of undergraduate admissions Yalana Bryant, and the building was evacuated as SWAT team members entered the building shortly after 8 a.m. local time to investigate.
"The incident was determined to be unfounded," said university relations spokesman Michael Sutphin about an hour later."It's not unusual that this would happen."
Burruss Hall, the college's administrative office, is next to Norris Hall, where 31 of the dead, including the shooter, were found April 17. Two people also were slain in a dormitory.
The school received at least two bomb threats in the weeks before the shooting, including one at Norris Hall, which houses the engineering school and other classrooms.
Few people were in the administration building at the time of the evacuation since Steger gave employees the option to take time off after the massacre, said Ray Plaza, a university employee who was evacuated, in a broadcast interview.
