Bomb threat forced 2 UT buildings to evacuate

Bomb threat forced 2 UT buildings to evacuate

April 16, 2007

By MELISSA DiPANE
6 News Anchor/Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Two buildings were evacuated for a few hours at the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville Monday after a bomb threat was received.

The call came in to the UT switchboard at 2:30 p.m.

Officers evacuated the Humanities building and the McClung Tower until about 5:00 p.m. because they were the targets of the threat.

Bomb sniffing dogs were called in to examine the scene but found no evidence of any bombs.

6 News does not usually report bomb threats but is making an exception due to the deadly shooting rampage on the Virginia Tech campus.

Police say there have been bomb threats on the Virginia Tech campus over the past two weeks, but authorities say they have not determined a link to the shootings.  

"It's already been responded to, and in lieu of today's incident in Virginia, we want to be extremely cautious," said UT Police Chief August Washington.

A criminal investigation of the UT incident continues.