Details have been released by Manitoba RCMP regarding another phone threat that resulted in the closure on Thursday, January 26th, of both Clearspring Middle School (CMS) and Kleefeld School.
Police say CMS received another threat over the phone on Wednesday night, January 25th, on the answering machine and the threat was pretty much identical to the last two calls made to the school a week prior.
The investigation remains ongoing as police continue to attempt to track down the location of the caller.
The threat this week came from the same U.S. phone number, RCMP report.
Officers have listened to the recording and now believe that Kleefeld was not mentioned. With the muffled voice recording, it initially sounded like the caller mentioned “Kleefeld.” It is now believed the caller was trying to say an address.
Both schools were closed on Thursday as a precautionary measure. Steinbach and St. Pierre Jolys had officers attend the schools early in the morning to ensure no students or staff arrived. Police report that no suspicious packages were located, and no suspicious persons came to the school.
The Department of Homeland Security became involved in this case during the phone threats that were received last week, also at CMS.
The phone number was originally tracked to a residence in Menasha, Wisconsin. The Menasha Police Department was contacted and followed up with this tip and has ruled out the homeowners associated to this number. Police say the caller would have used a false number when making the call over the Internet and so the focus of the investigation will fall on identifying the IP address associated to this call.
Homeland Security in the United States has been notified of this week’s threatening phone call and continue to investigate.
Manitoba RCMP’s Digital Forensic Services Unit is also working on this case.
At time of publishing this update, Hanover School Division had yet to announce whether the two schools would be open on Friday.
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