A southern New Mexico school district says it'll be taking disciplinary action against an employee who took a fake bomb to an elementary school for training purposes.
Spokesman Louis Villalobos of the Gadsden Independent School District told the Las Cruces Sun-News that an employee took the mock bomb to a school on Monday.
The principal contacted authorities after learning of the fake bomb. The school was evacuated while an FBI team inspected the mock explosive device.
Villabobos says the employee is an instructional assistant who is a former law enforcement officer and a member of the school's emergency response team.
The school district is headquartered in Sunland Park, which located south of Las Cruces and north of El Paso, Texas.
UPDATE: No charges filed in this incident:
An employee at Mesquite Elementary will not be charged following an incident Monday that forced a total evacuation of the south valley school.
Members of the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad were called out to the 200 block of NM 228 shortly after 11 a.m. after receiving a call that a suspicious device was at the school.
The so-called device, which was fashioned to look like an explosive, was removed by the Bomb Squad and has been placed into evidence at the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office.
According to Doña Ana County Sheriff’s investigators, the employee, who is also a member of the school’s emergency planning team, was hoping to use the lookalike device as an educational tool, but did not effectively communicate his plans to the rest of the administration.
Investigators concluded there was no malicious intent in the incident and no charges will be filed against the employee.
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