STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. — Students and staff at Stafford Senior High School had a stressful day Wednesday after multiple threats were investigated, including reports of students with guns, according to the county sheriff.
Three separate incidents were reported and investigated on Dec. 8 at the high school, but the Stafford County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) said no credible threats were found, and no arrests were made.
The reports began around 11:30 a.m. when a parent called the school saying they heard a student had brought a gun on school property "to exact revenge from a fight" the previous week, according to SCSO. The school found the accused student, investigated and found no weapons. The school was not locked down during that time.
Then just before 1 p.m., a school administrator told SCSO detectives investigating the first report that another report came in of two students discussing a school shooting on the bus. Detectives said those students were identified and questioned, but they found the threat not to be credible. Again, no lockdown occurred.
A few minutes later, a new complaint was made that a student was in the gym with a gun. The building was locked down while this threat was investigated, but all searches came up negative; no guns were found on the student, in the gym or locker room.
"As a precaution, Stafford Sheriff’s Office K-9’s, along with K-9’s from Virginia State Police and Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office searched the school last night," SCSO said in a press release Thursday. "No firearms were located."
The Sheriff's Office did say they would increase law enforcement presence at the school in the aftermath of the reported threats.
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