UPDATE: Small explosion forces evacuation of Rapid City Central High School

By Journal staff | Wednesday, May 30, 2007

RAPID CITY -- Students at Central High School were evacuated shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday after a small explosion went off in a locker in the west end of the building, according to police.

All the students were walked across Eighth Street to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, according to Rapid City Police Sgt. Karl Jegeris.

Related Stories
Most Popular

Obama Announces New Refinance Plan

Now is the time to Refinance! $130,000 Refinance for $679/mo.
www.SeeRefinanceRates.com

Cheap Car Insurance

Drivers Pay $44/mo on Avg for Car Insurance. Are you paying too much?
Auto-Insurance-Experts.com

Obama Wants You to Return to School

Get Your Degree with Government Grants and Scholarships.
www.classesusa.com

Ads by Yahoo!

No one was injured.

All Central students were to be released at 2:30 p.m., according to school district officials.

School officials said the other district schools are in a secured status, but not in full lockdown, and would dismiss at normal times.

Students who have their car keys with them will be able to retrieve their cars but no one will be allowed back in the building, Sgt Jegeris said.

The Ellsworth Air Force Base explosive detection team, including explosive detection dogs, had been called to the scene.

Jegeris said police and firefighters had reached the locker where the explosion occurred but not yet determined what caused it.

Mayor Jim Shaw also was on the scene.

The regional command center, a mobile communications unit, of the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, Rapid City Police Department, Rapid City Fire Department was set up in the tennis courts parking lot on Omaha street south of the high school.

Eighth Street between Omaha Street and North Street was closed.

Rapid Reply

Show Comments

74 comment(s)

Send us your Rapid Reply

The preceeding are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rapid City Journal or Lee Enterprises.

The opinions above are from readers of rapidcityjournal.com and in no way represent the views of the Rapid City Journal or Lee Enterprises.

Rapidcityjournal.com provides this community forum for readers to exchange ideas and opinions on the news of the day. Passionate views, pointed criticism and critical thinking are welcome. Name-calling, crude language and personal abuse are not welcome. Moderators will monitor comments with an eye toward maintaining a high level of civility in this forum. Our comment policy explains the rules of the road for registered commenters.

If you don't see your comment, perhaps...

you called someone an idiot, a racist, a dope, a moron, etc. Please, no name-calling or profanity (or veiled profanity -- #$%^&*).
you rambled, failed to stay on topic or exhibited troll-like behavior intended to hijack the discussion at hand.
YOU SHOUTED YOUR COMMENT IN ALL CAPS. This is hard to read and annoys readers.
you named a business or identified a business in a way good or bad. Contact the business directly with your customer service concerns or your praise – they’ll likely appreciate your feedback.
you believe the newspaper's coverage is unfair. It would be better to write Jerry Steinley at jerry.steinley@rapidcityjournal.com or call him at 394-8427. This is a forum for community discussion, not for media criticism. We'd rather address your concerns directly.
you included an e-mail address or phone number, pretended to be someone you aren't or offered a comment that makes no sense.
you accused someone of a crime or assigned guilt or punishment to someone suspected of a crime.
your comment is in really poor taste.

Law enforcement and fire fighters converged on Rapid City Central High School on Tuesday afternoon after a report of a small explosion in a locker about 1 p.m. (Photo by Seth A. McConnell, Journal staff)