The text that placed Kenai Central High School on lockdown today included “a depiction of a gun”. No gun was found.
According to a Kenai Police report, a male student of KCHS, who was believed to be off campus, sent a threatening text to another male student at the school, telling him to leave the property, “warning of imminent threat”, and depicting a gun.
After the student at school notified staff, the high school went into lockdown at 12:20 pm and Kenai Police contacted the 15 year-old male, who was believed to have sent the threatening text, at his residence at 12:39 pm.
He was arrested for Terroristic Threatening and transported to Kenai Peninsula Youth Facility.
Officers did not locate any guns at the residence and a guardian confirmed there were no firearms.
The lockdown and subsequent modified lockdowns of Kenai Middle School, Kenai Alternative School, and Aurora Borealis Charter School lasted around 40 minutes and all were cleared at about 1 pm.
Public information officer Pegge Erkeneff with the school district said many parents questioned why they did not hear about the lockdown until it was over.
Erkeneff: “Communications happen instantly now because of texting, and so we often are in the middle of having a lockdown being put into place when students are already starting to text parents. So we are working really closely with making sure we have accurate facts when we send a message to parents and so it might not be within minutes because we might be dealing with an immediate response to a school but yes we absolutely want accurate information out to our family and parents as soon as we can.”
Both the school district and the Kenai Police Department stated they were pleased with the collaboration between students, staff, and officers.