A Hazen High School senior is spending part of his 18th birthday today in the Renton City Jail after he phoned in a bomb threat to the school this morning.

The senior called Hazen from a nearby mini-mart at about 10:45 a.m. to say there was a bomb at the school and they had one hour to evacuate the school, said Randy Matheson, the Renton School District spokesman.

Police were called and students were ordered outside, congregating into three large groups on the school fields.

Police swept the school for a bomb, but none was found, Matheson said. The bomb scare was a hoax. Students returned inside at about noon.

However, the senior who made the threat got caught because of caller ID and good old-fashioned police work.

The number was traced to a mini-mart near Hazen. There’s a video camera trained on the entrance and the pay phone. The video showed someone on the phone at the time the bomb threat was made.

“One of the officers who did that did a heck of a job,” said Renton Police Commander Paul Cline.

Hazen officials identified the senior in the video, Matheson said.

Officers went to the youth’s house, where he confessed to calling in the threat. He was arrested.

High schools occasionally get bomb threats, which the district takes seriously, Matheson said.

“Usually, they are students trying to get out of something at school or they are looking for attention,” he said.

Because the senior turned 18 Friday, his arrest landed him in the Renton City Jail as an adult. Otherwise, he would have been taken to the Juvenile Detention Center in Seattle.

He was booked for investigation of threats to bomb or destroy property; he has yet to be charged. The possible charges would have been the same regardless of his age, Cline said.