Late-night shelter in place order was a result of a hoax in Vail
Officials determine that bomb threat to the Vail Police Department wasn't credible
A 12:50 a.m. shelter-in-place order issued by the Vail Police Department on Friday morning was the result of a hoax, the town of Vail has confirmed.
While the department is still gathering additional details about the incident, the town’s director of communications issued a brief statement on Friday.
“It turned out to be a non-credible bomb threat to the Vail PD,” Kris Widlak said. “The shelter-in-place was in effect for about an hour and a half.”
Incidents like the Friday morning hoax have been on the rise in recent years, Police Chief Ryan Kenney told the Vail Town Council in October. A series of bomb threats was called in to nearby schools in September 2024.
The town of Vail has included funds in its 2026 budget allowing the department to add a bomb-sniffing dog to the force.
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While it can take four hours or more for officers to clear a large building like a school, a bomb-sniffing dog can do it in under an hour, Kenney said.
As events in Vail continue to grow and become more complicated from a security standpoint, Kenney told the Vail Town Council, in October, that a bomb-sniffing dog would be at the top of his wish list in terms of tools the department could use to save time and resources.
“We just continue to have incidents where having a dog that could quickly clear a large area rather than 10 to 15 officers spending hours going through that same area,” Kenney said.