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Peoria 12-year-old boy in custody after flashlight-bomb hoax

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

A student at a Peoria school was taken into custody after placing a fake flashlight bomb across the street from his school on Wednesday, officials said.

The student took the flashlight from his home, similar to the ones recently used to make bombs in Glendale, and left it at the park across the street from Cotton Boll Elementary School, near 87th Avenue and Butler Drive, Peoria police spokesman Jay Davies said.

He got the idea after the school district sent home a flier notifying students and parents to be on the lookout for flashlights and included a picture of what one might look like, Peoria Unified School District spokeswoman Danielle Airey said.

Students told school administrators, who notified police and put the school on lockdown for 15 minutes as a precaution, Airey said.

Peoria police arrived along with Glendale police’s bomb squad and federal agents, who determined it was not a bomb, Davies said.

The seventh-grader was taken into juvenile custody on suspicion of misconduct involving a weapon.

Airey said the district is using this as a way to remind students that disrupting the school day and making threats will be taken seriously.