DENVER (KDVR) A school resource officer at a Douglas County high school in Colorado found a “suspicious device” inside a student’s backpack Tuesday morning, prompting a schoolwide evacuation.

An officer at Ponderosa High School was notified at about 9:30 a.m. that a student had possibly brought a device to school in their backpack, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in a social media post.

The officer located and detained the student and found a suspicious device in that student’s backpack.

A Douglas County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told local affiliate KDVR’s Nicole Fierro they believe the student had an “explosive device.” The sheriff’s office on social media said detectives are waiting for final confirmation from “the experts.”

The sheriff’s office said the bomb team was called to examine the device; they then decided to evacuate the school and search the building “out of an abundance of caution to confirm that no other devices were present.”

Fierro talked to several students following the evacuation.

“We walk out to cop cars, like bomb squad, and then like, everyone was evacuated,” Ponderosa High School junior Cooper Norman said. “I think everyone was just freaked out. You know, this was crazy. It was a shock to everybody.”

Another student said they had never seen anything like this before.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had something like this,” junior Ryan Aslin said. 

The school was cleared, and no other devices were found. Students were let back into the school at about 11:40 a.m.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Denver Field Division also responded, as did the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

A Douglas County School District spokesperson said that during an evacuation, students and staff are moved a safe distance away from the school but remain on school grounds while officials investigate.

The sheriff’s office said officials will determine applicable criminal charges related to the incident.

Ponderosa High School is in unincorporated Douglas County in a community called The Pinery.