False Alarm After Bomb Scare At Conway Elementary
By: Jocelyn Tovar, KARK 4 NEWS
Updated: August 20, 2012
The principal of Marguerite Vann Elementary School alerted police to a suspicious backpack brought into the office.
Police determined it was a "G-2-G gear" or a kind of portable media player, not a bomb.
The students were evacuated around 11 Monday morning after a man dropped off the backpack saying he wanted it to be donated to a needy student.
Administration called police when they noticed wiring inside the bag.
When the school was evacuated, the device was taken to a near-by landfill to be safely examined.
Students were allowed to return to class about an hour and a half later.
"I can't even imagine what those parents were going through not knowing and not being able to get to their children," said LaTresha Woodruff with Conway Police. "We had them perfectly safe, but for a parent not being able to get to your child at a time like that has got to be scary."
A parent we spoke with said she wished they had been notified sooner.
Conway's superintendent told KARK because of the evacuation administration wasn't able to alert parents immediately, but did send out information as soon as they could.
After the school was cleared students returned to classes without any further incidents.
