School locked down because of guns

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – A high school in this south Seattle suburb was briefly locked down Thursday after a student showed up with three loaded guns, but police said he told investigators he had no plans to harm anyone.

No one was injured, and the student was arrested without incident.

The student, a 10th-grader at Todd Beamer High School whose name was not immediately released, said he intended to sell the handguns that a school police officer found in his backpack, Federal Way police spokeswoman Stacy Flores said.

The hourlong lockdown began around 12:45 p.m., after a school police officer got a tip from a mother whose daughter had sent a text message saying she thought a student might be carrying weapons, district spokeswoman Debra Stenberg said.

The police officer and principal found he was carrying three firearms and extra ammunition in his backpack, Flores said.

The student was arrested and taken to the Federal Way police station, police and school officials said. Flores confirmed all three weapons were loaded.

The three guns taken from the student were among seven weapons stolen Thursday morning from a state trooper’s home, said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

The four other weapons have not been recovered, Troyer said, adding that the student arrested Thursday was not cooperating with the Pierce County investigation.

Students at Todd Beamer were sent home after the lockdown ended at 1:51 p.m., about 15 minutes before the normal end of the school day, Stenberg said.

About 100 miles to the southeast, in Yakima, Davis High School was also locked down Thursday afternoon after a threatening note turned up in a boys’ restroom. School officials wouldn’t comment on the note’s contents, but administrators identified a student they believed wrote the note and turned him over to police.

School officials locked down that high school last week after another note was left in the boys’ restroom on April 12. That note warned that a particular student had a gun and planned to use it, but an extended search of the building turned up no weapon.

Police arrested a 16-year-old boy Monday in connection with the first incident.

In Lynnwood, north of Seattle, police on Thursday arrested a 16-year-old accused of making a bomb threat at Edmonds Community College earlier in the day. The boy is a student at the college and was arrested at his home.

Investigations Cmdr. Steve Rider said the boy made the threat so he wouldn’t have to go to class.