Crime & Safety

Baltimore Woman Charged in HCC Bomb Threat

Police arrested a female HCC student on Thursday who allegedly called-in a bomb threat.

Sharonmarie Michelle Webb, 29, of Baltimore, was charged in a incident that forced school authorities to evacuate buildings Thursday while it was investigated.

Police said she is charged with making a statement or rumor about a destructive device.

Some members of the campus community reacted in alarm to episode, which occurred Thursday.

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"[There are] no excuses to cause panic and commotion to students in schools, especially after everything that has taken place in other colleges," wrote one user on the Howard Community College Facebook page. "It's just not something to be played with or joked about. If you aren't ready for an exam that you knew about, take responsibility for your actions and accept the consequences. [Don't] make a bomb threat, and worry hundreds of innocent people because of your unprepared-ness."

A campus-wide evacuation occurred at 10 a.m. Thursday after the alleged bomb threat was called into the college, according to school officials. At 10:30 a.m., students were allowed to re-enter after Howard County police did a sweep of the school buildings and determined the threat was false, according to a message posted on the Howard Community College Facebook page.

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Police said the call was traced directly to Webb's cell phone and video footage from campus security showed her alone in her vehicle in the HCC parking lot at the time the call was being made.

Police found the phone on her after they approached her vehicle, according to Sherry Llewellyn, a Howard County police spokesperson.

HCC officials will go through a judicial process before they determine any type of disciplinary action to take against Webb, according to HCC spokesperson Mike Scrivener.

Scrivener said the school is in its second week of summer sessions.


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