Authorities detonated a suspected bomb — what they are calling a homemade improvised explosive device — outside Warren County Junior High at about 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday.

Vicksburg Police Capt. Sandra Williams said two students were taken into custody in relation to the device, one suspected of bringing it to the school. She didn’t release the age of either student detained.

Students at Warren Central Junior High on Mission 66 were evacuated at around 12:18 p.m. Wednesday after information was shared with school officials alleging a student brought an explosive device into the school building.

Chad Shealy, superintendent of the Vicksburg Warren School District said school officials said the school was immediately evacuated and students taken to the auditorium at nearby Vicksburg Junior High School, and the situation was turned over to law enforcement authorities for investigation.

Vicksburg Police Department brought in its bomb-sniffing dog, Thor, who is handled by VPD officer Leonce Young. VPD Police Chief Walter Armstrong said the dog “alerted” on a backpack found in the school’s library.

At that point, the bomb squad was called in to handle the device.

At about 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, the device was removed from the library by robot and taken outside and detonated, Armstrong said.

Vicksburg Post reporter Alana Norris, who was on scene at the school when the bomb was detonated, said the explosion sounded like a “gunshot in the woods. It was like a boom sound. A few people in the crowd gasped when they heard it.”

She said a Vicksburg Police officer warned the crowd that officials were about to detonate the device just before it went off.

Students weren’t released from school until after 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Classes were held as normal at both schools on Thursday.

Shealy said the school went into security response mode immediately upon learning about the possibility of a bomb in the school and “pulled it off without a hitch. The authorities took over immediately, and they are in charge of the investigation.”