Ballard High on Lockdown
SPD Twitter at 1:37 pm
@SeattlePD: Principal Wynkoop and Chief O'Toole give @seapubschools Ballard HS students a real time update.
Update: seems confusion over issue (whatever it was) at Taco Bell. Does not appear to have anything to do with Ballard High situation.
1:24 pm from SPD Twitter:
@SeattlePD: Working with @seapubschools staff to get Ballard HS students released between 2 and 3 pm.
1:10 pm from SPD Twitter:
@SeattlePD: Police are at Ballard High School working with @seapubschools officials toward an on time release.
1:00 pm update from SPD Twitter:
@SeattlePD: @cillycilia There's an ongoing investigation but students remain on the campus, which is secure at this time.
Latest from SPD Twitter:
@SeattlePD: @ballardnewstrib Not aware of any barricaded situation related to Ballard High School call. School is secure. Case still under investigation
From Q13 Fox:
@Q13FOX: BREAKING: SPD arrested a Ballard High School student off-campus, according to Seattle Public Schools. Officers are searching for a weapon.
NW Mom reports (from tv reports) at 12:21 pm
Seattle Police Department's SWAT Team are currently in a stand off with two suspects at the Taco Bell on 15th Avenue N.W. in Ballard.
The suspect(s) have been described as one or two white males ages 15 to 16.
Police have locked down Ballard High School and have been instructed to send students away who are coming back to the school.
@SeattlePD: Principal Wynkoop and Chief O'Toole give @seapubschools Ballard HS students a real time update.
Update: seems confusion over issue (whatever it was) at Taco Bell. Does not appear to have anything to do with Ballard High situation.
1:24 pm from SPD Twitter:
@SeattlePD: Working with @seapubschools staff to get Ballard HS students released between 2 and 3 pm.
1:10 pm from SPD Twitter:
@SeattlePD: Police are at Ballard High School working with @seapubschools officials toward an on time release.
1:00 pm update from SPD Twitter:
@SeattlePD: @cillycilia There's an ongoing investigation but students remain on the campus, which is secure at this time.
Latest from SPD Twitter:
@SeattlePD: @ballardnewstrib Not aware of any barricaded situation related to Ballard High School call. School is secure. Case still under investigation
From Q13 Fox:
@Q13FOX: BREAKING: SPD arrested a Ballard High School student off-campus, according to Seattle Public Schools. Officers are searching for a weapon.
NW Mom reports (from tv reports) at 12:21 pm
Seattle Police Department's SWAT Team are currently in a stand off with two suspects at the Taco Bell on 15th Avenue N.W. in Ballard.
The suspect(s) have been described as one or two white males ages 15 to 16.
Police have locked down Ballard High School and have been instructed to send students away who are coming back to the school.
Comments
Seattle Police Dept. @SeattlePD 43m43 minutes ago
@ballardnewstrib Not aware of any barricaded situation related to Ballard High School call. School is secure. Case still under investigation.
Sorry to cause confusion.
http://www.myballard.com/2015/11/05/reports-of-police-and-possible-lockdown-at-ballard-high-school/
parent
However, the kids at school were scared. Some were screaming, some heard the screams and were very frightened. Lots of police guns, assault rifles and body armor, sniffer dogs(reportedly very cute, not like attack canines). Laser sights(yes, I have a boy). The boys were talking about rushing the gunman if he entered the classroom or pushing desks against the door if they heard shots. Not something high schoolers need to worry about. What a messed up world we live in.
Sounded like staff was very cool and kept the kids as calm as possible. Maybe the one day it wasn't good to be a Beaver.
This incident follows the arrest of the serial groper who assaulted a female student several weeks ago. Captured thanks to school security.
I'm an anti-gun advocate and I hope we can force gun shops out ff town like San Francisco.
Momma Beaver
Curious
And after a remark that parents need to secure their weapons so they dont end up in the hands of 15yr old ( or a 5 yr old), one parent was very defensive when it was suggested it should be kept unloaded.
Myself I think its more likely that someone will hurt themselves or someone else.
- it happened during lunch with many kids off campus (and told to not come back -likely the lucky ones) and the rest herded into the gym.
- very hard to account for students
- the ones in the gym probably didn't have anything to eat until school let out
- the kids in the gym didn't have a lot of bathrooms but seemed to enjoy being social
- one kid climbed a pipe to the ceiling and got suspended :(
Totally our world, now, and scary beyond belief. I sat in Seattle Center the other day and overheard a group of teens (girls this time) talking about what they would do in an active shooter situation, using all the buzzwords. They hoped to hide. It makes me ill, that they casually talk about what they would do if someone was trying to shoot them at school, like we've failed at our most basic duties.
And, "Myself I think its more likely that someone will hurt themselves or someone else.", is not just a random opinion. Guns kept at home increase the risk of a violent death in the home: http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/160/10/929.full
zb
Why don't we have more information from either SPS or local news media about the incident at Ballard HS yesterday.
Did the student actually have a gun either on school grounds or outside of the school during school hours?
Did the police locate the gun - if not why not (was there never actually any gun present or did the student or someone else dispose of it?). It was reported that the student was arrested - what was the student arrested for exactly?
Did the student threaten anyone?
Who did the gun belong to (owned by parents vs illegally obtained by student or associates?)
Was there any kind of incident at the Taco Bell or was this unrelated or misreported?
We got all the headlines about the school on lockdown and pictures of the SWAT team there. It was a big deal but there has been zero followup reporting about what actually transpired.
If anyone had been shot by this allegedly gun-toting student, the new media would be all over it - with days of coverage. But this potential near-miss - nada. I don't believe this is the first time there has been issue of student with gun at Ballard HS and that was similarly kept quiet.
To my mind - its not just the school shootings that warrant discussion, action, media attention - it is also all these instances (many of which we probably don't even hear about) that could have turned out just as bad but did not, either because of luck, vigilance, or lack or real intent.
It is HUGELY concerning to me if a child takes a gun to school even if no one is injured or killed and it warrants just as much examination as to why, how, and how to prevent it happening again.
So - why the SPS and media silence?
worrier
Not worried
As it is both SPS and the news media act as if it never even happened. I think that is weird. It was hugely disruptive for the school, widely covered by the local media, and frightening for all those of us who fear our kids will be caught up in the next school shooting. it seems like it is just swept under the rug cos there are no dead bodies.
worrier