A student at Franklin High School has killed himself with an improvised explosive device, allegedly because he was upset about being bullied by classmates.

Franklin Police said they received a call from a student at the school around 7:15pm (AEST) this morning (AEDT) reporting that he was “going to kill himself” after being bullied in the gymnasium.

Police said the student was “extremely upset about bullying and bullying from the students” and had “made numerous threats” to the school.

The boy reportedly made an explosive device and threw it in the school gymnasal.

A bomb squad was called to the gym, and the boy detonated the device in the playground, killing himself.

“A student made an improvised device and blew himself up in the park,” Superintendent Brian Brown said.

It is believed the device was placed in the pool area, which is accessible from the playground.

Brown said police are “trying to determine the motive behind the death”.

“The community is understandably very concerned about this.”

“We have a very small community of students in our school, and this incident is a very tragic incident.”

Mr Brown said the boy’s family was “horrified” by the incident.

He said police were treating the case as suspicious and urged anyone with information to contact police.

Mr Harris said police would be reviewing CCTV footage from the gym and surrounding area.

Authorities said they were still looking for witnesses to the incident and were working with the boys family.

Students are required to wear a bomb-sniffing dog at school.

The school said students had been warned about the risks of using the gym.

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