MONROE, Mich. – Just before 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, Monroe County Community College received a bomb threat to its Main Campus in Monroe and its Whitman Center location in Temperance.
Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Success Dr. Scott Behrens announced that as of 4:07 p.m., all campus buildings at Main Campus in Monroe and Whitman Center were officially cleared and declared safe.
All buildings will be on lockdown until the campus opens Wednesday morning. Main Campus and Whitman Center will be open as usual Wednesday.
People who need to retrieve vehicles may do so. However, the buildings will remain closed until Wednesay, so anyone who needs to retrieve items inside buildings will need to do so then.
Dr. Behrens described what occurred. Today (Tuesday) at 9:48 a.m., multiple MCCC Safety Services personnel received email messages indicating that an explosive device was on campus. The Safety Services team presented the evidence to the VP of Enrollment Management and Student Success at 9:53 a.m.. The team immediately agreed to treat the threat seriously and evacuate the campus. Verbal evacuations began at 9:57 a.m., and the alarms sounded with a personal message from Safety Services to evacuate all buildings at 9:59 a.m. Police were notified immediately at 9:57 a.m. and on-site by 10:20 a.m. By 10:28 a.m., all buildings were cleared of people, which was verified twice thereafter by a deputy and Safety Services. Once all buildings were cleared, they were officially placed on lockdown at 10:40 a.m. so that they could no longer be entered.
Bomb detection dogs were brought in, and every room in all buildings on the Main Campus, as well as the Whitman Center, was methodically and individually cleared.
Research by the Monroe County Sheriff’s office indicates that the email IP address was not local. The Sheriff’s Office is continuing its work, and updates will be provided as they become available.