A bomb threat phoned in at about 5:30 p.m caused classes in Wirtz Hall to be canceled Monday night.

As a precautionary measure, the building was evacuated and all classes for the evening were canceled, said University Police Sgt. David Wickstrom.

For more than two hours, six University Police officers, including Chief Donald Grady, searched the entire three-story building room-by-room looking for anything suspicious. All the while, Huskie Student Patrol officers made sure everyone kept their distance from the building.

In the end, everything was OK.

“We searched every room, office, storage closet and washroom,” Wickstrom said. He added that if anything suspicious was found, a bomb squad would have been notified.

Wickstrom did mention that the police department has a lead to who was behind the call, but couldn’t comment further.

Earlier this semester, a suspicious package was found at Grant Towers North, but Wickstrom believes this is the first bomb threat of the semester.

Also on hand at Wirtz was Eddie Williams, NIU executive vice president of finance and facilities. Anyone with any further questions is asked to call his office at 753-6009.