Investigation shows report of shooter at school was a rumor

A report of a “shooter” incident at Lake Roosevelt Schools was determined to be a rumor, according to investigators.

Last Wednesday, a person overheard some high school students talking on the school bus about a “shooter,” thought that it might be a threat, and reported it late Thursday.

“As soon as we heard about it, we started an investigation,” Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner stated this week.

That investigation continued late on Thursday, and on Friday school officials called a staff meeting to report that it had been determined that it wasn’t a valid shooter threat.

Coulee Dam Police Chief Paul Bowman and a second officer were in the building all day Friday, assisting with the investigation.

The high school students were interviewed, their parents involved, and school officials searched the parties’ lockers.

“Words matter,” Turner said. “We will need to teach our students that the words they use have meaning and can be interpreted in a way that suggests a threat.”

That Wednesday, an early-out day for students, the staff had had a three-and-a-half-hour training session on “active shooters.”

It wasn’t known if this had anything to do with what was heard on the bus that afternoon.

Mike Dingle, a security expert from the Education Service District, put on the lengthy clinic, part of the district’s year-long security training program.

“Social media went wild and we were flooded with calls,” Turner said.

That prompted Turner to use a district-wide calling system to explain the rumor.

He stated: “I want to inform you that today we worked with the local police to investigate a rumor about a potential school shooter. Through the investigation we do not believe that this is a credible threat. We take all rumors seriously; please know that our first priority is the safety of all of our students.”

“At no time did we believe that this was a viable threat,” Turner said Monday. “The school protocol on this matter worked well.”

The school did not have a lockdown, as was being circulated by some in social media.

The subject came up again Monday night at the school board meeting. Turner opened the meeting, addressing the board members and about 20 visitors who came for a variety of reasons. He explained that the investigation revealed that the incident was determined to be only a rumor. “We take these kind of things very seriously,” Turner told those attending.