Officials vow to find culprits in hoaxes

Two hoaxes sent deputies rushing to a falsely reported homicide in the Five Corners area and a fake bomb threat at nearby Heritage High School on Wednesday.

Deputies are investigating the possibility that the two incidents were related, said Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Fred Neiman.

The homicide call, which came in around 1 p.m., sounded strange from the start and was traced to a relay service, according to emergency radio traffic.

The caller, posing as someone who lived in the house, said he had shot and killed his mother in the backyard. He gave an address that doesn’t exist and then hung up.

Clark County sheriff’s deputies were sent to an updated address in the 10300 block of Northeast 79th Street, where they found the person the caller had posed as — but no crime scene. He said his mother was at work and no one else was in the house, according to radio traffic.

Police determined that the homeowner didn’t place the call, and most of the deputies who showed up were called off, Neiman said. The rest tried to determine who made the false call.

“It is a tax on our resources,” Neiman said, explaining that emergency responders dropped other emergency calls to go to the house. “We’ll be working diligently to figure out who placed the call.”

About an hour later, deputies went to Heritage for a bomb threat.

The threat to the high school was emailed in after students had already been released, Evergreen Public Schools spokesman Kris Fay said. The entire district was on an early release schedule, with classes ending at 11:45 a.m., according to the district’s website.

Some students who were still on campus, for extracurricular activities including a school play, were evacuated.

“The email wasn’t sent directly to the school,” Neiman said. He added that the agency would work to trace the message back to its sender.