No one is hurt following a bomb threat at a hospital in Greene County yesterday.
According to a press release from Greene County Sheriff Rob McMillen, on Thursday, December 13, 2018, at around 1:00 p.m., the Greene County Sheriff’s Department and the Carrollton Police Department were alerted by the administration at the Thomas H. Boyd Memorial Hospital, located in Carrollton, that a member of their staff had received an email from an unknown source stating that an explosive device had been hidden in the hospital building.
Upon reviewing the emailed message, it appeared to be a hoax; however the hospital staff did an excellent job in practicing their protocol for such a threat. Although, evacuations were not required, the staff began reviewing anything that had occurred during the day that would have been considered out of the ordinary and also put the building on a soft lock down, and began monitoring the people coming and going from the facility.
The Sheriff’s Department reached out to the Illinois Secretary of State Police Bomb Investigations Unit, and they dispatched bomb investigators, who were equipped with explosives detection dogs to the hospital to assist in the search of the building for any explosive devises. The SOS bomb investigators were on scene within an hour and fifteen minutes of the call, and there rapid response to this area was greatly appreciated by the Sheriff’s Department, the Carrollton Police Department and the Thomas H. Boyd Memorial Hospital administration and staff.
It should be noted that emails such as the ones sent to the hospital have been sent to various locations state and nation wide, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations is investigating to see if they could determine the origin of the emails. The Sheriff’s Department and the Carrollton Police Department will be forwarding all information related to today’s bomb threat to the FBI for further investigation.