Two students have been arrested and charged with felony terroristic threatening after an incident involving a fake gun and another “dangerous instrument” Thursday morning at Apollo High School.
Because they are both juveniles, the students were not been identified by officials. The were both taken to the Warren County Detention Center.
Brad Youngman, a DCPS School Law Enforcement Officer, said that with information that was gathered, the two students in question had an event that happened off-campus and wanted to “air their grievances” to each other at school. He said there was not an act of violence planned against the school.
In a video released later in the day, Daviess County Public Schools officials explained the event that occurred Thursday morning. They also held a media conference Thursday afternoon further detailing the incident (watch that video here).
Youngman said student resource officers and administration members were notified that a student on campus may be armed with a gun before the first period began.
Apollo Principal Rick Lasley said he received a radio notification at 8:03 a.m. from one of the assistant principals saying a lockdown should ensue based on the information. Even though school had not officially started, Lasley said students and staff found a way to get securely locked into a safe environment.
“We were in a moment before the school day began, and those are some of the more dangerous situations that can occur on a school day,” Lasley said.
Lasley said that by 8:07 a.m. the student was located by the resource officer, at which point they found a fake handgun. Youngman said the weapon was so realistic that upon first glance he believed it to be a real handgun.
“It is not an operating firearm. It has been described as more of a BB gun, and it was not loaded,” Youngman said.
In order to maintain safety and also take attendance to make sure everyone was accounted for, students were then placed into their first-period classes, where Superintendent Matt Robbins estimated they stayed for roughly an hour and a half.
Other officers reported to the scene and after an hour of investigation, they learned that another individual was armed with what Youngman calls a “dangerous instrument” similar to brass knuckles.
The second student had checked out of the school and was called to return, and was also arrested and charged with terroristic threatening upon interrogation.
As the morning unfolded parents of students began to check their children out and a short statement was released to the parents for clarity.
Youngman was pleased with the response by everyone involved.
“In my opinion, it went very well. We don’t want these instances to happen, but when they do we want to make sure we handle them properly and in this case I think we did,” Youngman said.
Lasley said he is proud of the administration and resource officers for executing the situation the way it was practiced.
“I couldn’t be more proud as a principal for all that the things we did to get our students safely locked in classrooms,” Lasley said.
Lasley said they have found every piece of information they feel they need in the situation.
Robbins said there will be an increased presence of officers at Apollo on Friday to assure the parents, students and staff of the safety of the school.
“Those are the priorities of Daviess County Public Schools and those are the priorities of Apollo High School,” Robbins said.
