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No Bomb Found After Telephone Threat On Raytheon Facility In St. Pete

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON and ROD CHALLENGER, The Tampa Tribune News Channel 8

Published: February 16, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Investigators found nothing after a bomb scare Friday at the Raytheon facility at 1501 72nd St. N.

At 7:05 a.m., an unknown caller claimed there was a bomb at the facility, which has federal defense contracts, St. Petersburg police said.

The building was evacuated, and employees were sent home about 10 a.m., said Kevin Ramundo, vice president of communications for Raytheon Network Centric Systems. Bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in from MacDill Air Force Base, police said.

Nothing was found, Ramundo said.

Police closed surrounding streets and nearby buildings.

Azalea Elementary School, at 1680 74th St. N., was evacuated Friday morning. The children were moved to Azalea Middle School, 7855 22nd Ave. N., police spokesman Bill Proffitt said.

In an apparently unrelated situation, there was an unspecified threat at St. Petersburg College's Gibbs campus Friday morning, Proffitt said. As a precaution, the school first cleared the Natural Science building and then shut down the campus.

Several weeks ago, a student was unhappy about a science grade he received and corresponded by e-mail with the professor, Proffitt said. Because of the wording of one e-mail, campus police put the campus on heightened alert.

Police had not contacted the student, and no criminal investigation was under way, Proffitt said.

Provost Lars Haffner told News Channel 8 that the college put into effect a plan created in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings. In this case, the threat justified sending students home, he said.

City police spokesman George Kajtsa said officers were looking into the matter.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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