Investigation Of

Bomb Hoax Incident Continues

By Andrew Gorosko

Police this week pursued several leads in their investigation into a bomb scare at Newtown Middle School on Queen Street on June 18, which prompted the rapid evacuation of the building, resulting in the cancellation of classes there on the last day of school.

Town police, state police, and the FBI converged at the school to investigate what later was described as an apparent hoax.

Police Sergeant George Sinko, who was the town police incident commander at the bomb scare, said June 26, “We’ve interviewed several witnesses” in seeking to determine who left the suspicious object on the school parking lot, near the auditorium entrance to the school.

After the incident, several middle school students approached Officer Gladys Pisani with information about the case, Sgt Sinko said. Officer Pisani is the police department’s school resource officer for the middle school. She is attached to the department’s detective bureau.

Sgt Sinko said it is too early to tell whether charges will be pressed in the case.

“We’re following up all the leads we have, and we’ll take it from there,” he said.

 The complexity of investigating such a case is compounded by the fact that school is out for the summer with students having dispersed from the middle school, making them less available for questioning.

 At about 8:20 am on June 18, a school teacher noticed the suspicious object. At about 8:28 am, school officials alerted police of the presence of what was thought to be an “explosive device.” There were no injuries or property damage in the incident.

The suspicious object was a soda can wrapped with duct tape with a five-inch length of copper tubing extending from the can. Police have declined to disclose the nature of other components which the can contained.

State police spokesman Sergeant J. Paul Vance has said the object “appeared to be a hoax device,” which outwardly had appeared to be a small pipe bomb.

The incident occurred just as students were arriving for classes at the school via school buses and rides from parents. About 150 of the approximately 1,200 students who attend the school had already arrived.

The state police bomb squad investigated the suspicious object. After a series of tests, state police transported a large fragment of the object to Fairfield Hills where they detonated it. The incident consumed the whole morning.