The investigation into the bomb threat that took place on Friday is still ongoing, Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir said.
The Barton County Sheriff’s Office is looking into a couple of leads but officials weren’t releasing much information at this time, he said.
A telephone call was made to the Great Bend Police Department around 9:15 a.m. on Friday. The caller indicated there was a bomb threat at the courthouse, located at 1400 Main, and at Barton County Court Services, 1806 12th St. The Court Services building houses, among other things, the Great Bend office of the Cottonwood Extension District and the 20th Judicial District parole and juvenile services offices.
“The call came into a non-recorded line,” Bellendir said on Tuesday. “This makes trying to find out who called the threat in very hard. We are doing our best to solve this quickly.”
After the Friday morning call, both buildings were evacuated and many county employees sheltered at the BCSO building. By 10:30 a.m., a sweep of the buildings by law enforcement was complete, Barton County Operations Director Phil Hathcock said. Deputies from the Barton County Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Great Bend Police Department thoroughly searched the buildings for any suspicious items or packages, but none were found. By late Friday morning, business in the buildings had resumed as normal.