Brookfield Elementary students and staff return to school after bomb threat prompted evacuation

Police are investigating a bomb threat made Tuesday against Brookfield Elementary School that caused the school to be evacuated. The school has since been deemed safe, according to a tweet from the Brookfield Police Department.

Students and school staff are returning to the building. "Students will be released at the end of the school day in accordance with the school district's existing release times and procedures," the department said.

In an tweet at 2:07 p.m., the department said its investigation led the department to conclude it was a swatting incident. It said detectives will continue investigating where the threat originated from, identifying a suspect and pursuing appropriate criminal charges.

Swatting is placing a false emergency call to draw a large police presence to an address.

The Police Department said in an earlier news release posted to its Twitter account at 12:58 p.m. that the threat was made at 12:02 p.m. It said that while its patrol division responded to the school, detectives found information that indicated the threat was likely a swatting incident.

As a precaution, the school was evacuated and city of Brookfield officers, along with the Milwaukee Police Department Explosive Ordinance Disposal K9 Unit, were searching the building. The department said in its tweet that children and school staff are safe.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at@AlecJohnson12.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brookfield Elementary evacuated after bomb threat