Independence student detained over report of threat

Dec. 9—Police detained an Independence Middle School student on Wednesday, following an investigation of threats of school violence, Raleigh County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Lt. Jim Canaday reported.

Canaday said that the male student was accused of sending messages to other students in which the student made threats of violence toward a school in the Independence area.

There are three schools in the area: Independence Elementary, Independence Middle and Independence High School. The student did not specify which school, Canaday said.

"He had made threats of violence toward a school, not a particular school, one of the Independence schools," Canaday said. "We have investigated that, and currently, that student has been charged and detained, pending a juvenile hearing."

He said that deputies had been investigating an incident of firearms involving Shady Spring juveniles. The incident is still under investigation and was not linked to any school.

On Tuesday, he said, he was notified that a social media rumor had indicated that the police investigation was possibly related to a Shady Spring High School student making threats to shoot Shady Spring Middle School students.

"At this time, deputies have not been able to corroborate any statements that would lead us to believe that there were ever any acts ever planned or discussed to occur within the Shady Spring School district," Canaday said in a press release posted to his agency's Facebook page.

Canaday reminded students that making a threat of violence is a crime.

"It causes panic," he said. "It disrupts society. It takes a lot of resources."

Police must investigate, which ties up their resources and manpower, he added.

"It's still a crime to make those threats," he said.

Raleigh Schools Superintendent David Price said Wednesday that the school system takes all rumors of violence seriously.

"Any time these rumors of this type get started, we take it, a school system, very, very serious," Price said. "Even though, most of the time, we've been fortunate they've been gossip or rumors, we don't take it as gossip and rumor and write it off.

"We're going to address it as real and involve our local law enforcement, which we did."

Price said that the school system has a strong working relationship with Raleigh County Sheriff Scott Van Meter and the Sheriff's Office and with Beckley Police Department.

He said Raleigh Sheriff's Office immediately began an investigation Tuesday evening, within hours of a student notifying a teacher of the threat made on social media.

"It wasn't like, 'Let's just wait 'til the morning and see what's going on,'" said Price. "I can't say enough about what they do to support our schools and the collaboration and partnership we have with all of our law enforcement agencies."

Local law enforcement officers were also stationed at the schools on Wednesday morning for added support.

Price said that students and parents are to notify teachers or other school employees immediately, whenever they believe there is a threat of violence in a school.

"When parents see this, we encourage them to report it to their child's school, to report what they've seen and let us know, so we can help investigate it."

Some parents may feel hesitant to make a report on a child, but Price said that any threat — an explicit threat or any concern that a student or parent has about possible school violence — should be reported to the school immediately.

"Schools can't do this alone," Price said. "We can do our part.

"They need to communicate with us. It's not about pointing blame."

Price praised the students who reported the threats on Tuesday to school officials.

"I can't say enough about the student who saw this and reported it," he said. "That was the right thing to do.

"They did it, and it's helped us stay in front.

"We need that."

Canaday also encouraged students to report suspicions of school violence to their teachers or principals, so school officials can notify law enforcement.

Price said that when a threat is explicitly made or when a teacher or principal believes that a student presents a safety risk to others, school officials are permitted by law to search the student for weapons.

In a Michigan school shooting on Nov. 30, school administrators reportedly sent a 15-year-old student back to class without conducting a search of his personal belongings, after a teacher reported that she was disturbed by the student's drawing of a person who had been shot and of a firearm.

The student had a firearm in his possession when school administrators sent him back to class. Once back in the classroom, he pulled his gun out of hiding and opened fire on other students, killing four and injuring seven others including a teacher.

In Raleigh County, Price said, principals have conducted searches of students' lockers and personal belongings when reports of potential violence have been made.

"If the administrator deems it's a threat, the administrator has the right to search that student at school," he said.

Price said students may also be expelled or suspended or placed in an alternative school, if a principal deems that the child is a threat to others' safety.

He said principals are trained annually on how to deal with threats of violence and how to conduct searches.

"We've done some investigations," Woodrow Wilson High School Principal Rocky Powell said Wednesday of his high school, which is the county's largest. "Just like Shady and Independence are going through today, we've gone through a couple of those, also."

Law enforcement found a BB gun in a student's possession earlier this school year, after receiving notice of a threat of a student bringing a firearm to school.

"Any time there is a possible threat or somebody brings something to us, we do an investigation and try to do some tracking and find out exactly where it originated from, and if we need to investigate it a little bit further with search and procedure."