Student barred from Puyallup junior high school while police investigate violent threat
Administrators for Ferrucci Junior High School in Puyallup temporarily expelled a student this week after police notified the school of threats made against another student.
Puyallup Police Department notified administrators of the threat late Tuesday night after a parent learned of a student intending to cause violence at school, according to a Facebook post from Ferrucci Junior High School. Police said officers began investigating the threat and went to the home of the student to speak with them.
The student was “emergency expelled,” the school said. Puyallup School District spokesperson Curtis Campbell said that type of disciplinary action is a short-term punishment that immediately barred the student from campus.
Campbell said the expulsion allows police to continue to investigate while school officials determine what further disciplinary action might be necessary. He declined to say what grade the student was in.
“We take all threats seriously,” Campbell said. “What we really want parents and students, families and community members to do is if they hear something or see something, that they say something to us.”
Capt. Ryan Portmann, spokesperson for the police department, said the threat originated from a text conversation between six or more people who police believe are junior high school students. He said one student threatened to shoot another who was in the conversation.
“That student didn’t actually take the threat seriously,” Portmann said. “The student’s family, though, learned of the threat and called us. It doesn’t sound like the family necessarily even took it too seriously, but they felt like they needed to report it.”
Portmann said officers have spoken with both the student who made the threat and the recipient of it. He said the student who made the threat wasn’t arrested, and police don’t feel that there’s a public safety concern. He said detectives were working to get in touch with everyone who was in the text conversation, and that the case would be forwarded to the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to review if criminal charges are warranted.
Police were also investigating a “rumor” of a bomb threat at the same school, Portmann said. He said police don’t believe the threat is credible, and it’s unclear if it was connected to the shooting threat.
The threats came shortly after a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday ended with 19 children and two teachers killed by an 18-year-old gunman. The deadly shooting received national media attention and reignited fears over the safety of students in schools.
“We remain vigilant and we recognize that there’s a lot of concern for school safety right now, and we’re partnering with the district to ensure the students’ safety the best that we can,” Portmann said.
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 11:54 AM.
