Carey's gets bomb scare

A bomb threat was left on the voice-mail system of an administrative member of the H. Frank Carey High School on April 27, around 11:10 p.m. The threat was made following the Sewanhaka Central High School District Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, which began at 8 p.m.

Robert Psoinas, deputy commanding officer of the Nassau County Police Department’s Fifth Precinct, said the school official listened to the voice-mail around 8:20 a.m. on Thursday, which indicated that a bomb would go off at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, and the school was immediately evacuated. The police department and fire department were also immediately notified by the school, Psoina said.

Psoinas said the police department searched the building around 9 a.m. on Thursday, and determined the building to be safe. School custodians and other staff members assisted in the search. The Fifth Precinct’s bomb squad was not called, Psoinas said, because the police department determined it was unnecessary, as no evidence of a bomb was found in the school. Students were permitted re-entry into Carey around 10 a.m. on Thursday.

Psoinas said in most bomb threats, individuals are students, who are attempting to close down the school building for the day. However, in other instances, individuals are “just trying to create fear,” and that was likely the motive of the individual who left the voicemail on Wednesday’s case, he said. And contrary to most bomb threats, the voicemail was not made by a student, Psoinas said.

According to police, the voice was determined to be made by an adult male. It has also been determined that the individual left the voice-mail using a payphone on Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont. The message could have been left by someone who attended the Sewanhaka Board of Education meeting on Thursday, which ended approximately one hour and nine minutes prior the voice-mail recording taking place.