By SANDY McGEE

WOONSOCKET — The high school and the Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center were both evacuated on Wednesday afternoon after school officials received a bomb threat.

Lt. Eric Croce of the State Police, interim chief of the Woonsocket Police Department, said that school officials received a bomb threat on Wednesday around 12:30 p.m. and quickly notified police.
“We had a report that a caller called the school and reported there was a bomb in the school,” Croce said. “The caller said this bomb would be detonated shortly after. The school was immediately evacuated for the safety of the students, as well as the teachers’ safety.”
Members of the state Bomb Squad, equipped with bomb-sniffing dogs, were called to the scene. Members of the Woonsocket Police and Fire Department also responded to the high school on Wednesday.
Three bomb-sniffing dogs from the state’s Bomb Squad and a bomb-sniffing dog from the State Police searched the school and found no evidence of an explosive device. Students at the high school were escorted away from the building and were asked to wait in Cass Park as police searched the school.
According to students, they were evacuated after a fire alarm went off throughout the high school around 12:40 p.m.
“We were sitting in class and the fire alarm went off,” said 16 year old Rebecca Sosa, a sophomore at the high school. “They evacuated the whole school.”
“It (the evacuation) went very well,” Croce said. “Buses responded fairly quickly. Students were removed from their safe zone without any incident.”
Police closed a lane of traffic on Cass Avenue, diverting the vehicles up Elm Street to allow parents and buses to pickup children at Cass Park. Traffic was slowed temporarily on Cass Avenue as vehicles stopped for students.
Prior to the busses’ arrival, hundreds of students in large clusters were seen walking away from Cass Park. Whether the students were given permission to leave the area is undetermined. School officials could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Students and teachers were not allowed back into the high school to collect any belongings, according to police.
One juvenile was detained for attempting to re-enter the building, according to the interim chief. He may be charged with trespassing, said Croce, but those charges are pending an investigation.
In October, 1,910 students were evacuated from the high school after school officials received a bomb threat. In that incident, the school had received a notice stating a bomb would go off at 12:30 p.m. After searching the building, police discovered no evidence of a device.
Police on Wednesday said they do not believe there is any connection to the previous threat. The investigation is ongoing and under the direction of the Woonsocket Police Department.
This incident follows less than three weeks from the abduction of a Woonsocket High School student. On March 11, a 15-year-old female was abducted as she was walking to school in the vicinity of Wood Avenue. 
The female apparently jumped out of her abductor’s car as he slowed down for traffic. She was not injured during the incident.
Police are still searching for the individual responsible for this abduction.