Explosive Device Hoax at Eagle Pass Independent School District Service Center Gate Under Investigation By FBI, ATF and Texas Rangers
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2017
During early Saturday, September 23, 2017, the Eagle Pass Independent School District Police Department was contacted regarding an explosive device and a grenade left outside the front gate to the District Service Center on Eidson Road in Eagle Pass, Texas. In addition to the alleged explosive device, a handwritten note on a cardboard was also left underneath the alleged explosive device.
The Eagle Pass Independent School District Police Department contacted the City of Eagle Pass Police Department. Eventually, the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), FBI Bomb Squad, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Texas Rangers, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Laredo Bomb Squad were contacted and are investigating the serious alleged explosive device threat made upon the Eagle Pass Independent School District.
Bomb squad members removed the alleged explosive device from the front gate of the Eagle Pass Independent School District Service Center and was determined not to have any live explosive material.
An intensive investigation of this serious alleged explosive device hoax and threat is being investigated by the multiple agencies. All of the evidence will be thoroughly examined to determine if their are any fingerprints, DNA, and the handwriting on the cardboard note can be identified.
According to the photograph provided to the Eagle Pass Business Journal by the Eagle Pass Independent School District Public Relations Department, the name “Miharez” and “Supertendente” are clearly legible as well as the words “ISD” and “Please.” The full text of the cardboard message is not clearly visible, but what is certain is that someone wrote it. The Eagle Pass Independent School District did not release the full text on the cardboard handwritten message left underneath the alleged explosive device and grenade.
Eagle Pass Independent School District Superintendent Gilberto Gonzalez thanked all the dedicated law enforcement agencies who responded to the threat and are investigating the incident. Superintendent Gonzalez stated that no school district students or staff were hurt as a result of this serious threat nor were on site during the incident. Gonzalez assured the public that the safety of the students and staff is the top priority of the school district.
The alleged explosive device hoax and threat remains under investigation. Any person having information regarding the fake bomb or any having seen any suspicious person(s) at the EPISD District Service Center front gate during Friday evening or Saturday morning, please call the Eagle Pass Police Department at (830) 773-9044 or the FBI at (210) 225-6741.
