The Juneau Police Department was called on Monday afternoon after a student made a comment about shooting a local school.
The incident was resolved in-house without charges being issued, said Lt. Krag Campbell.
“A student was upset about a phone being taken away and made an offhand comment about shooting up the school. JPD responded and investigated,” Campbell said in an email. “After speaking with everyone involved, there are no criminal charges and it is being handled within the school.”
The last significant school shooting threat in Juneau occurred more than two years ago.
“These are rare events in Juneau, but every event or situation is taken seriously and investigated. The process for handling each situation depends upon the specific circumstances,” said Juneau School District chief of staff Kristen Bartlett in an email. “Sometimes a student will be removed from the school to give administrators time to gather information. Schools work closely with families to identify needs and come up with solutions.”
JPD and JSD have been working together to build a more effective threat assessment program, Bartlett said.
“The team was created in June 2019, and had initial training by the FBI before schools closed during the pandemic. The threat assessment team builds on the established collaboration between JPD and JSD, and draws on the expertise of others in our community, such as juvenile justice and mental health professionals,” Bartlett said. “Threat assessment is a violence prevention strategy that identifies threats, facilitates the differentiation between transient, substantive, or worrisome threats and addresses underlying problems or conflicts to mitigate threatening behavior.”
Students, staff, parents, and community members should contact the school, the school district or JPD if they hear or see something suspicious, Bartlett said.
“Everyone should speak up when they hear or see something suspicious or read something online,” Bartlett said. “If you see something, say something.”
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
