Submitted by Fox First at Ten on November 29th
SPOKANE, Wash. - A 12-year-old Hamblen Elementary School student was arrested and taken to juvenile detention Thursday after school officials said he threatened his teacher with a table knife. The incident prompted a lockdown at the school but it wasn't because the boy acted out.
Instead, officials locked down Hamblen Elementary, located at 2121 E. Thurston Ave., after they perceived a threat from that student's parent.
Spokane Public Schools spokesperson, Terren Roloff, told KHQ that the incident started around 1:00pm when the student found the table knife in the classroom and then threatened the teacher with it. The teacher was not hurt. It's unclear what caused the student to make the threat.
Soon after that, Hamblen went into lockdown "as a precaution" because the student's mom's boyfriend was upset at the way the school handled the situation. Roloff said the boyfriend made "threatening remarks" and led teachers to believe he would come to the school to work it out himself.
Several police officers responded and waited in their vehicles outside of the entrance of the school, but the boyfriend never showed up. The lockdown was over within the hour.
KHQ dug into the numbers of weapons found in Spokane Public Schools and it turns out these types of incidents are pretty rare.
Out of more than 28,000 students in all of Spokane Public Schools last year, there were only 14 instances of a student disciplined for bringing a weapon to school. The most serious incidents involved a knife and a handgun. Out of those 14 instances, 11 were expelled and three were suspended. That information comes directly from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction's (OSPI) website.
At this point, it's too early to tell if the student in this case will get in trouble with the school. Officials said they will have to do an investigation.
RESOURCES:
OSPI's Weapons In School Report: 2010-11 School Year
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
UPDATE: We're now learning it was the boyfriend of the child's mother that called the school, not the father as initially reported. Spokane police tell KHQ that the reason why the school went into lock down is because the boyfriend made concerning statements to school staff.
UPDATE: We're told that a 12-year-old student threatened a teacher with a knife. The student was then restrained. When school officials called the mother, her boyfriend then got upset at how the school was handling the situation.
PREVIOUS STORY:
SPOKANE, Wash. - On Thursday afternoon Hamblen Elementary School was placed on lock down because of a man's conversation over the phone with school officials.
The man was upset after the child of his girlfriend was detained for behavioral problems. Police say the man seemed very angry and made statements that caused them to be concerned.
School security was alerted as well as the local authorities. It's not clear what the dad said over the phone.
