BY VINAYA SAKSENA

CENTRAL FALLS — Fears of a bomb in the Calcutt Middle School building Thursday afternoon turned out to be unfounded, but still had students and staff weary, coming just days after two shootings of local youths.

It was approximately 1:17 p.m. when the Central Falls Police Department responded to a report of the threat, according to the department’s chief, Colonel Joseph Moran. The fire department also responded, getting there at approximately 1:45, but found that the threat appeared to be an empty one, according to Fire Chief Rene Coutu.
“It was written on a wall,” Coutu said shortly before his department left the scene. “The police made the call. We’re just here to back them up.”
Police cars, fire vehicles and ambulances blocked off roads immediately surrounding the school Thursday afternoon, with Coutu and his department beginning to pull out around 2:30 p.m. Also responding to the incident were state police personnel, who brought dogs trained to sniff out bombs and other explosives. However, no such items were found in the school.
The bomb scare came just four days after a Central Falls High School student, later identified as 10th-grader Edelmiro Roman, which itself came a day after a fight in Jenks Park left one youth, Helder Tomar of Pawtucket, dead and another, Anthony Strobert of Central Falls, with a gunshot wound. Since, then there has been fear of retaliation stemming from one or both of those incidents, which police have been investigating for a possible connection.
It was unclear whether or not the bomb scare was in any way connected to the shootings. Col. Moran said all of the incidents, including the bomb scare, remained under investigation, and that no further information was available.