TERRORIST THREATS

On March 22nd, 2022 at approximately 8:19 AM, The Lee County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from a clerk at the Marathon gas station located at the intersection of U.S. Hwy 280 East and Lee Rd. 379 in the Smith Station area of Lee County in reference to a bomb threat to the store. Lee County Deputies arrived on the scene and found that the store had been evacuated.

The store clerk advised that she received a phone call from what sounded like a young male’s voice advising that he had “planted a bomb” in the bathroom. Lee County bomb-sniffing K9 units arrived on the scene and conducted a search of the premises to no avail.

Lee County Investigators were able to obtain information on the phone number that was used to call in the threat and found that it was received from Onslow County North Carolina.

Authorities at the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office were contacted where they were able to determine the caller was actually an eleven-year-old male that admitted to having the cell phone and calling in the bomb threat.

An Onslow County Sheriff’s Deputy advised that the juvenile was being disciplined by his grandfather about the incident.

Due to the age of the child, no charges are being filed in Lee County.

Any information about this type of criminal activity should be reported as soon as possible to the correct authorities.