Berkeley High evacuated after prop for class project was mistaken for a possible bomb

Berkeley High School was evacuated over a “suspicious device” that turned out to be bogus Tuesday, according to police and a letter to school families forwarded by a BHS community member.

Around 1 p.m. a school staff member told a school resource officer “about a suspicious item inside a bathroom that had wires and paper towel tubes,” Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Byron White said in an email.

“Further investigation revealed that the ‘suspicious device’ was a prop for a class project,” BUSD spokesperson Trish McDermott said in an email.

“All students and staff are safe. Out of an abundance of caution, Berkeley High School officials evacuated the school while members of the Berkeley PD Explosive Ordinance Detection Team investigated the suspicious item,” White said. “After checking the suspicious item, our EOD determined that the suspicious item was not real.”

Officers were in the process of searching “the rest of the school for any other suspicious items,” White said.

Family members of students said the students were taken outside to athletic fields.

“We expect to follow the normal release time and protocols and ask that families not come to the school to pick up their students prior to release time,” according to the letter to school families.