June 2nd Rampage Article Including Invasion at Sand Point Elementary School

Post Alley printed my article that is so far the fullest account of what happened the afternoon of June 2nd in the Sand Point area. 

I believe that the staff at Sand Point Elementary School did the best they could under a confusing and challenging situation. I sure do wish that Superintendent Brent Jones would acknowledge that publicly and ESPECIALLY to call out the bravery of those 5th graders who had to fend off the suspect by themselves until a neighboring teacher came to the rescue. I note that Principal Rick Baileykaze did thank staff in a story on KOMO-tv news. 

Initially, the suspect  -who likely went to an SPS high school - was only charged with misdemeanors this case because of the lack of evidence coming from the Sand Point ES principal. Police can't fabricate charges; they need probable cause. In the police narratives, you can hear the frustration from officers. When the principal gave the officers on the scene no real help, they had nothing to charge the suspect with. (As for trespass, my understanding is that if someone is trespassing, then told to leave and they do, then it's unlikely they will be charged. It took a bit of doing but the suspect did leave the school grounds.)

But now there are felony charges because more evidence was brought forth. I suspect that both SPD and at least some parents at Sand Point ES put pressure on the City Attorney to press the district to help with this case. In the few reports on this case, SPD seemed to get thrown under the bus and I'm pretty sure they were very unhappy about that. 

Sadly, the suspect seems to have mental issues that he does not want to treat and yet they are severe enough that he has been found to be not competent to work with an attorney on other cases.  I sure hope he doesn't walk again because, given his behavior, someday he's really going to hurt somebody.

I also suspect that the district just wants this to go away. They probably think they that they near literally dodged a bullet and it all ended well (for the school at least - not for the DHL driver who got hit in the face by the suspect nor the police officer whose wrist was broken trying to arrest the suspect). 

There do remain some outstanding questions which I did pose to SPS but they did not answer. I have requested the 911 calls and body cam footage from SPD as well as messaging from SPS. 

1. Why did the school's 911 call not reflect that there was a lockdown? That was crucial info that the officer on the scene indicates would have changed his actions.

2. There was a parent on the scene who also called 911. When the officer arrived and saw nothing but a guy wandering the grounds and the principal following him, he thought it was a mental health check. He then called the parent who made the 911 call and she let him know there was a lockdown.

3. One of THE biggest questions - where was the 5th grade substitute teacher? Maybe he/she ran to the office to report the issue and the kids just ran back to class? I don't know how that could possibly been the standard procedure. But those kids were left on their own which is unacceptable.

4. My understanding is that the portables had some special way to lock the door so that it opens from the inside but locks to the outside. Was the sub apprised of this when he/she came to the building to teach? If not, why not? If so, why wasn't the door locked properly so that it locked after the students came back in? 

5. Is SPS doing an internal investigation so they know what actually happened that day? 

6. The parent who was on the scene said that some district administrator came to the school pretty quickly. Who was that and did that administrator tell the principal not to talk to police?

I suspect this is why the principal clammed up, NOT because that he got miffed because he thought the officer was moving too slowly.

7. It says in the police narrative that the principal had seen inside the suspect's bag (which the suspect had emptied into his bag into a backpack he had taken from a student) and that there was no weapon. Well, anyone can tell you that still doesn't mean the suspect didn't have a weapon on his person.