Albany Tech evacuated after bomb threat

ALBANY — Albany Technical College was placed on lockdown after the school received a telephoned bomb threat at around 2:00 p.m. Tuesday. After a search involving Albany Police Department bomb-sniffing dogs, the Albany State University Police Department and the Albany Fire Department, Albany Tech Police Chief Roychard Hill pronounced the campus clear at 4.p.m.

According to Albany Tech Executive Director for Marketing and Public Relations Wendy Howell, the incident began when “a man calling in the Academic Advisement Center wasn’t hearing the answers he wanted to hear.”

First responders arrived and cleared the campus. They used bomb-sniffing dogs and first searched the Student Advisement Center. No bomb was found in the advisement center, and authorities continued their search to include the rest of the campus.

Howell said she did not know the man’s name, but only enrolled students can use the Academic Advisement Center which is located inside the Nathaniel Cross Building.

“A student who was not currently enrolled at the college became agitated after learned he was enrolled in a certificate program rather than a four-year degree program,” Hill said. “The man made numerous calls to the center until the last phone call when he said he had placed a bomb in one of the buildings. We know who is is, but he is not in custody. We will be issuing a warrant for his arrest.”

Hill refused to release the man’s name, saying that the case was still under investigation.