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.
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.