Thread: Suspected grenade found in car causes Manor HS to evacuate

by JESSICA VESS / KVUE News
Bio | Email | Follow: @JessicaV_KVUE kvue.com
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 5:29 PM
Updated today at 5:37 PM



MANOR, Texas -- An early morning bomb scare prompted evacuations and lock downs in Manor ISD.
Police evacuated the high school around 8 a.m. Manor Police Sgt. Ryan Phipps says School Resource Officers contacted the department after a 20-year-old man pulled into the circle drive on campus but refused to leave.

When police arrived, the man identified himself as Jesus Delacruz Carbajal. Police detained him and searched his car. Officers found an explosive device that looked like a grenade in the middle console of the vehicle.

Police immediately put the school on lock down. Since school doesn’t start until 8:50 a.m., most students at Manor High School were still in route and not on campus. The district diverted its buses to the nearby Middle School. Manor ISD Superintendent Andrew Kim says about 80 percent of the students use bus transportation.

The district placed the middle school and nearby elementary school on lock down as police shut down Gregg Manor Road and called out the Austin Police Department’s bomb squad.

By 10:30 a.m., officers gave the all-clear. Roger Wade of the Travis County Sheriff’s Office says the squad discovered the grenade was a replica.

“It wasn't active. It was not an explosive device. They tell me that it was what they call a replica grenade which looks exactly like the real thing, just doesn’t have the explosive power to it. The only way you can figure that out is if they investigate and have the explosive ordinance detail come out and look at it,” said Wade.

Sgt. Phipps says the department’s officers ordered the evacuations and lock downs as a precaution.

“It looked fairly real. It was painted blue. It had blue markings on it. In the military, generally, when they discard their grenades they do some sort of blue paint on it to show that they're inoperable,” said Sgt. Ryan Phipps of the Manor Police Department.

School buses slowly began transporting students back to the high school after getting clearance to return.

The driver of the car remains in custody. Police are questioning him about why he was on campus in the first place.


According to the Travis County Sheriff's Office, the suspect has been charged with a third degree felony of tempering with a government record. The charge could come with a prison sentence of two to 10 years. Travis County officials say he had a fake social security card and was going to the high school to meet his 17-year-old girlfriend.


Deputies believe he is not a citizen because he had a fake Mexican consulate ID. ICE could soon get involved because of it.



Suspected grenade found in car causes Manor HS to evacuate | kvue.com Austin

Replica grenade sparked Manor lockdown

Man, 20, charged for having fake IDs

Updated: Thursday, 12 Jan 2012, 5:43 PM CST
Published : Thursday, 12 Jan 2012, 8:44 AM CST

• Jackie Vega
• Erin Cargile

MANOR, Texas (KXAN) - A replica grenade sparked an evacuation at Manor High School Thursday morning after it was spotted in the car of a man who refused to leave campus.

At 8 a.m., a school security guard noticed a man acting suspiciously, according to Manor police.

Sgt. Ryan Phipps said the man pulled up to pick up his girlfriend. When staff asked him to leave he refused and backed his black car into a parking spot in front of the high school.

Manor police were called to the school. After talking to the man, they took him into custody and searched his car. An officer spotted a grenade sitting in the console, but could not tell if it was real or fake. It was painted blue.

On Thursday afternoon, TCSO spokesman Roger Wade said the grenade was a novelty and not an explosive. Earlier in the day, Wade said it is not illegal to have a replica grenade.

However, the suspect -- identified as Jesus Delacruz Carbajal, 20 -- was charged with tampering with a governmental record, a third-degree felony, because upon investigation, officers found that he had two forms of identification with different names, including a social security card with a fictitious name.

A third-degree felony has a maximum punishment of two to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Most students had not arrived on campus when the incident happened, as school starts at 8:50 a.m.

The road in front of the middle school and high school was closed and high school students were sent to the middle school.

School buses heading to the high school were re-routed to Manor Middle School. And since 80 percent of students in Manor ride the bus, Superintendent Andrew Kim said that took care of most students.

Everyone else already on campus had evacuated to the middle school. Manor High School has 1,200 students.

Travis County Sheriff's Office spokesman Roger Wade said everyone was safe but that authorities want everyone other than law enforcement officials to steer clear of the area.

District officials are preparing to give the all-clear to let everyone back on campus, and an automated phone message alert went out to parents notifying them of the situation.

The road in front of both Manor schools, Gregg Manor Road, reopened at 11 a.m.

Meanwhile, Hendrickson High and Kelly Middle school officials in Pflugerville placed the building on lockdown after receiving a suspicious phone call Thursday morning.
Pflugerville Independent School District officials issued a statement mid-morning which detailed their procedures:

"All students are being kept in their 1st period classroom until they are given the all clear. No students are allowed into the hallways. Additionally, all vehicles that want to enter the campus lots are being searched by Pflugerville PD. Currently, we have a strong law enforcement presence around Murchison, Kelly Lane, and Hendrickson. We also notified our neighboring schools so they may do similar things to ensure the safety of their students."

Replica grenade sparked Manor lockdown | KXAN.com

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