Orick Tool & Die in Elida evacuated after bomb threat

ELIDA — An Allen County business was the target of the latest bomb threat in the area on Wednesday morning.Chief Jeremy Hollis, of the Elida Police Department, said the threat was phoned in to Orick Tool & Die, 614 Kiracofe Ave., shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday. Workers were immediately evacuated from the building.“Once they received the bomb threat, Orick got the employees out,” Hollis said. “Once we got here we searched the building with the Allen County Sheriff's Office canine units and didn't find anything.”Hollis said it took around an hour and a half for law enforcement officials to sweep the building and give the all-clear to company officials to resume operations. The reported threat came close to a scheduled shift change at the business, which delayed not only arriving employees from getting into work but departing employees from being able to leave, he said.With Lima City Schools having dealt with four bomb threats in the past few weeks, three of which were at Lima Senior High School, Hollis said copycats are always a possibility.“It can definitely happen,” he said. “With the situation here, we're not sure this has anything to do with the city schools or any of those bomb threats.”Jeff Price, the general manager at the company, declined to comment on Wednesday's incident.Besides the Elida Police Department, officers from the American Township Police Department and deputies from the Allen County Sheriff's Office responded to the threat. An official from the Allen County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management was also on scene.Hollis declined to say if a disgruntled current employee or a recently terminated employee may have made the phone call.“I really don't want to speak on that at this point with Allen County handling the investigation,” Hollis said. “I don't want to elaborate and make speculation.”You can comment on this story online at www.limaohio.com.