Police: Package that shut school is student’s camera device

A suspicious-package alert that shut down a Fountain Valley elementary school was lifted Monday when the package was found to be a student’s homemade camera attachment, police said.

However, Hisamatsu Tamura Elementary School will remain closed for the rest of the day Monday, school officials said.

“So many kids have already been picked up and alternative plans have been made, so it’s very difficult to get everyone back to school,” said Fountain Valley School District Supt. Marc Ecker.

The PVC pipe device was a homemade GoPro-type camera attachment left on campus by a student over the weekend, according to Fountain Valley police Sgt. Tony Luce.

“It’s used to extend the GoPro camera for their recording of their bicycling or skateboarding stunts,” he said.

The K-5 school, at 17340 Santa Suzanne, was closed as of 8 a.m. and a bomb squad was called after the package was found about 7:15 a.m. by a custodian, Luce said. He described the package as a clear plastic bag containing a PVC pipe capped at both ends.

Luce said there were a few students on campus at that time, and they were immediately escorted off campus. Students’ parents were emailed at 7:50 a.m. to alert them that the school was closed, officials said.

Nearby residential streets were shut down during the investigation. Police lifted the shutdown at about 9:40 a.m.

It was the second time this month that a school in Fountain Valley was shut down because of a perceived threat. On Sept. 3, police locked down two high schools after school officials received an email from a student’s account alleging that he had planted bombs around one of the campuses.

Fountain Valley High and neighboring continuation school Valley Vista High were closed for the day. No explosives were found.

Authorities have no reason to believe that Monday’s incident was related to the earlier one, Luce said.

“There have been a lot of these at various schools throughout the county and the state,” he said. “We have to take all of these calls very seriously and hope that it’s not an explosive device.”