AI-generated bomb threat forces Wheatland High School to evacuate, delay classes
YUBA COUNTY, Calif. —
An AI-generated bomb threat forced Wheatland Union High School to evacuate students and staff and to delay the start of classes for several hours on Tuesday, officials said.
The Wheatland Police Department investigated an anonymous bomb threat after the school received a call using an AI-generated voice, Superintendent Nicole Newman said in the release.
Newman said the school did not become aware of this until right before 6 a.m. She told KCRA 3’s Mike TeSelle that police texted the school resource officer at 2:30 a.m. about the threat, but that officer did not immediately see the text.
The school searched the campus, but Newman said they are waiting for an explosives K9 unit from Placer County to search individual classrooms and lockers.
The school delayed the start of instruction to 11 a.m. to give law enforcement ample time to thoroughly search the school.
Newman said had the school become aware of the text right away, classes might not have been delayed as long. Additional staff and law enforcement will be present during the day.
Instruction was initially delayed to 8:50 a.m., but Newman said it was pushed further to 11 a.m.
Students who were already on campus were relocated to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints parking lot and gym.
Newman said this type of threat is consistent with a pattern impacting other schools across the country.
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