Cass County Courthouse receives bomb threat

The Cass County Courthouse was evacuated last week after Central Dispatch received a bomb threat.

Sheriff Richard Behnke said the incident occurred at 8:45 a.m. Friday, when Central Dispatch received two calls, indicating that a bomb had been placed in the courthouse and would explode when a timer expired.

A decision was made to evacuate the building of its employees and visitors. It was also decided that the historic county courthouse building be evacuated as well, Behnke said.

The buildings were searched by sheriff’s office deputies and security personnel, though nothing suspicious was discovered.

Berrien County Sheriff’s Office and its bomb/explosive detection K-9 conducted a search, as well, and nothing out of the ordinary was discovered.

Deputies and detectives from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office have been following up on leads from the calls and other resources, and believe an identification of the suspect is close at hand.