FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – Matanzas High School was placed on a hold status Wednesday as the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office looked into “the potential presence of modified fireworks” in a student’s vehicle near campus, the agency said on social media.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said detectives had been investigating two suspicious incidents over the last two days, which brought them to Matanzas High School, to check out a suspect and their vehicle.
“One was related to an incident in the S section of Palm Coast. The other one was an incident related in the L section of Palm Coast,” Staly said.
An Explosive Ordnance Disposal K9 walked the vehicle and indicated that it was positive for explosives.
Staly said the suspect exercised his Fifth Amendment right when deputies tried to speak to him.
Flagler County Schools shared an update before 3 p.m. that there is no “identified threat to the campus” but due to the ongoing investigation, the school will operate under a controlled dismissal.
“Bus riders and car riders will be dismissed first. Then, student drivers parked in the MHS parking lot will be dismissed. There will be some student drivers who will be delayed longer than usual,” the district said in a social media post.
The sheriff’s office was assisted by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), which went over the vehicle using X-rays before doing a physical search.
An explosives-detection K-9 alerted to the vehicle.
“A positive hit doesn’t mean that there is anything active currently in that vehicle,” Staly said. “What it means is that at some point there was something chemicals in that vehicle that an explosive detection K-9 would activate on.”
After several hours, detectives cleared the scene after collecting evidence from inside the vehicle. No active explosive devices were found, authorities said.
“I want to thank the students,” Staly said. “There were a number of students that were impacted because they couldn’t get to their car.”
No arrests have been made yet.
This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.