Alleged bomb threat in Kearns debunked

An alleged bomb threat was debunked after putting a Kearns neighborhood on alert Wednesday morning.

Unified police were called shortly before 9 a.m. to check on a 35-year-old man near 5600 S. Honeysuckle Way (about 5200 West), who claimed to have a bomb in his car, said police Lt. Justin Hoyal.

Police looked inside and saw canisters and wiring, so they treated the threat as legitimate, Hoyal said.

Officers evacuated the surrounding homes and put a nearby school, Beehive Elementary, on lockdown.

The police also asked people to stay away from the area while a bomb squad from Unified Fire Authority arrived to inspect the car.

The bomb squad eventually determined that the canisters were filled with nitrous oxide, Hoyal said.

By 11:15 a.m., emergency responders were letting people back into their homes and the school was no longer on lock down.

The man was arrested on suspicion of making threats against life and property, a third-degree felony, Hoyal added.

Classes at the school had gone on as normal during the scare, but all of the exterior doors of the school were locked and no one was allowed to leave or come onto campus property, said Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley.

mmcfall@sltrib.com

Twitter: @mikeypanda