Students at Sequim Middle School were evacuated Thursday, Oct. 20, and Sequim schools were on lockdown after a threat to the school was received at about 9:30 a.m.

Detective Sgt. Sean Madison with the Sequim Police Department said a front office staff member at the school received what sounded like a recorded message threatening to bring harm to students if certain demands weren’t met by 10:45 a.m.

Madison declined to released what those demands were, as the case remains under investigation as of Tuesday, Oct. 25.

Led by School Resources Officer Randy Kellas, Sequim Police officers conducted two searches of the school — one before the 10:45 a.m. threat deadline, one after — and found nothing that was cause for concern, Madison said.

“The school resource officer knows the school, what doesn’t belong there,” Madison said.

Sequim Middle School students were sent to Sequim High School’s gymnasium soon after their school’s office received the threat. They were released and returned to class at about 11 a.m. Parents/guardians who wanted to pick up their students were allowed to do so at the Sequim High School parking lot.

On Tuesday, Madison said there was enough evidence to serve a search warrant to an unspecified telecommunication company to try and trace the origin of the phone call.

“It’s kind of a long shot,” he said. “When we get the results, we may or may not have more leads to follow.”

While the threat did not specify how harm would be inflicted, Madison said law enforcement treated it similarly to a bomb threat.

He said he was unsure how similar it was to other recent phoned-in threats to the area either such as a false bomb threat to Greywolf Elementary School on May 23, which was one of several made across the country.

As for the motivation of the most recent threat, Madison said “it doesn’t make a lot of sense to us either.”