Serving Franklin County, WA
Serving Franklin County, WA
Shooting threat called into Ritzville
OTHELLO – The local high school was locked down Wednesday, May 10, after a reported threat.
According to a report, city police and the Adams County Sheriff’s Office responded to the high school, 340 S. Seventh St., at 11:18 a.m. after a threat of a school shooting.
The threat call, which was made to the Sheriff’s Office in Ritzville, indicated there was an armed person in front of the school, records show.
Responding authorities were joined by school staff; their search failed to locate any suspect or threat, records show.
As a precaution, the school remained locked down until authorities learned there were several threats from the same telephone number across Eastern Washington the same day.
“Incidents such as this are investigated by state and federal authorities,” the Othello Police Department said on social media. “OPD will provide any information to those agencies in efforts to hold callers accountable.”
The false threat calls came only a month after a similar incident Wednesday, April 12, in which bomb threats were called into multiple school districts.
Statewide, that threat was sent to 44 school districts statewide, including St. John-Endicott, Colfax, Columbia (Burbank), Dayton, Wilbur, Creston, Coulee City and Hartline.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
Reader Comments(0)