Carson City School District Superintendent Richard Stokes said Wednesday's lockdown at Carson Middle School was a direct result of a student telling a teacher he had seen two students loading a handgun. The student, who faces a criminal charge of filing a false report, confessed later to authorities that he had made the story up.
The lockdown affected the entire school with nearly 1,200 students, forcing teachers to lock their classroom doors and keep students inside. Anxious parents, who caught wind of what was happening by cell phone and text messages from their children and news reports, arrived at the school and waited outside as law officers scoured the campus, looking for weapons and the young males who were targeted by the student who made the false accusation.
Even though this was ultimately a case of false reporting, Stokes said it should never stop children from reporting things they consider dangerous or would hurt others or themselves.
"We took the steps today because we take all reports that involve violence seriously," said Stokes. "We had limited information but could not discount the report."
Carson Middle School followed procedure and went into immediate lockdown following the threat report. What school officials don't want to happen is for students to feel as though Wednesday's incident, and the alleged false reporting, should dissuade them from reporting to teachers if they do indeed see things that are threatening or involve violence.
"We want our students to always feel as though they can come forward with any information if they feel they or others are not safe," said Stokes. "We don't want our students to make false reports, but we do want them to be able to tell a trusted adult about anything they think applies to the safety of themselves and others. They should never be afraid to speak up if they feel something is wrong and someone could get hurt."
Below is a statement on today's events from Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong.
At approximately 1:06 p.m., May 29, 2013 the Carson City Sheriff’s Office was notified of a violent threat at the Carson Middle School on the West side of the community. School officials were informed by a 12-year-old student that he had witnessed two other unidentified male students in a restroom loading a black handgun. According to the initial reports, the 12-year-old student was told that if he said anything to anyone he would be shot. School officials immediately locked-down the school according to response plans and informed sheriff’s deputies who were inside the school on unrelated matters.
The Carson City Sheriff’s Office initiated a full response to the school and residential neighborhood. Agencies assisting the Sheriff’s Office included the Nevada Highway Patrol, and several other divisions from the Department of Public Safety, as well as state and local probation officers, and the Carson City Fire Department.
Approximately 60-70 local and state law enforcement officers quickly secured the interior of the school to insure everyone‘s safety inside, and the residential area surrounding the school to prevent any external threats. With officers inside the school hallways, Sheriff’s Detectives rapidly combed through information to determine the number of suspects and their possible locations. Within the first hour, four (4) juveniles were detained, along with the reporting juvenile.
Sheriff’s and Department of Public Safety Investigators have determined that the report was fabricated by the reporting juvenile. Late this afternoon, the juvenile reporting the incident was arrested for filing a false report and transported to Juvenile Detention. Sheriff’s Deputies and School District authorities remained on scene until all activities inside the school were completed at 4:44 p.m.
This event acts as a reminder to parents that when incidents like this occur, the first law enforcement priority is the safety of the students and faculty inside the school. The second critical priority is to get information out to the parents (and public) on how to expect safe reunification with their children.
The best practice recommended is to follow the instructions of public safety personnel through media outlets. Today, our parents and families aided greatly by forming at designated areas and being readily available as classrooms were methodically dismissed and students safely moved to key areas for release to their parents. Although many students and parents exhibited significant emotional trauma caused by this event, there were no injuries reported.