The student news site of Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

The Hawkeye

The student news site of Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

The Hawkeye

The student news site of Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

The Hawkeye

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Lunch at Edmonds-Woodway ends with a bang

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Two homemade bombs exploded at Edmonds-Woodway H.S. on Jan. 31.

No one was injured, and no damage occurred; however, the incident was taken very seriously. The fire department reported to the school immediately.

The bombs were placed inside two trash cans in the school cafeteria and exploded at around 11:40 a.m. The explosions were during lunch, and students were eating when a loud noise came from the trash cans at the front of the cafeteria. Many students were frightened and confused.

“It’s scary to think that something would happen like that so close to where you are,” EWHS freshman Alaina Haig said.

EWHS freshman PJ Kambhirand described how there was silence after the explosion. “After it went off it got really quiet and no one was talking,” he said.

EWHS principal Michelle Trifunovic announced over the intercom what had happened.

“During class, our principal came onto the [intercom] and said there was a small explosion in a trash can during lunch, it’s nothing to evacuate the building about, but they are having a fire truck come to check it out,” EWHS freshman Noushyar Eslami said. Eslami was in class a story above the cafeteria and was able to hear it.

Trifunovic sent an email out to parents of EWHS students later that day stating, “Fire District 1 determined that the items were bottles which contained a common household chemical that when sealed, the pressure forced the bottles to explode.” Trifunovic identified the chemicals as Drano and aluminum.

In the email, Trifunovic also commented on how videos to create bombs like this can be found on the Internet. When you search “How to make a bomb” on YouTube, 109,000 results come up. Many of these videos give specific instructions on creating a potentially dangerous bomb.

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Police and Trifunovic say the motive may have been to disturb testing, as it was finals week at the high school. “We have no motive but I suspect someone hoped to delay the final exam that was to take place after,” Trifunovic said.

Many students see the bomb as more of a prank than an attempt to cause harm. Eslami called it “just dumb.”

The events have raised questions about the preparedness of other schools, including MTHS, for bomb prevention.

“I think this is something that all schools should be concerned about,” MTHS Principal Greg Schwab said. “Any school could be vulnerable to an incident like this,” he said.

Schwab says the administration at EWHS “handled the situation very well”.

Schwab described the steps he and MTHS administrators would take to handle the situation if it had occurred at MTHS saying, “If something like this were to happen here, we would assess the situation and determine if the building needed to be evacuated to make sure everyone was safe. We would immediately contact 911 for police and fire response and we would work with them to determine how to proceed.”

His plan was practically identical to how EWHS administrators handled the situation.

Police are still trying to find out who created and left the bombs at EWHS.

Anyone who has information about the incident is urged to call Edmonds Police Department at 425-771-0200.

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