MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Montgomery County Public Schools is reevaluating its school security in the wake of Friday's school shooting at Colonel Magruder High School where a 17-year-old student shot his 15-year-old classmate, according to the Montgomery County Police Department.
According to the MCPD timeline, in the minutes following the shooting the initial dispatch call was for an injured person, not for shooting or a shooting victim. Police said the victim was found in the bathroom during a hall sweep by an MCPS security member. That led to the call for the Community Engagement Officer to come to the school, which arrived seven minutes later. The first MCPD officer roughly 30 minutes after that, per MCPD.
RELATED: 'He's a danger to this community' | Magruder High School shooting suspect held without bond
This year MCPS no longer has school resource officers (SROs) after county leaders voted last year to end the 19-year program. Instead, there are Community Engagement Officers patrolling the streets nearby. As well as school security inside the high schools and middle schools.
After Friday's shooting school and county leaders said they are reevaluating the best path forward in terms of school security, but Dr. Monifa McKnight, Interim Superintendent of Schools, said she doesn't want to see the SRO program come back.
“It's more about what are we looking at and what type of environment do we want to see in our schools that creates a safe one, and one that's built on the premise of relationship building. And it is incumbent upon us to build the right program to put in place to do just that," McKnight said during a press conference Monday.
McKnight said the school system will take into consideration the many lessons learned from Friday's shooting and review its safety and security measures in schools.
In a community letter issued Monday, it said in the months ahead MCPS leadership will collaborate with our county officials, community partners, and school-based staff to conduct a review of all school safety and security practices, address ongoing concerns regarding police presence on school campuses, and review the staffing of school-based security personnel and emergency response procedures.
Another factor McKnight said the school system will consider is the use of ghost guns, which police said was the type of gun used in Friday's school shooting.
"We have to take all of that into consideration that now knowing that we have ghost guns more readily available to our students, all of those things were not in placement. And so we're doing the right thing that we need to do right now, which is, look at given the current circumstance and we are looking at all of the data, all of the circumstances here in the nation in Montgomery County. What are the implications for that program," McKnight said.
"But again, I will say the program is one part of it. Our students have a responsibility. Our families have a responsibility. Our community has a great responsibility in helping us to solve this problem," McKnight said.
State's Attorney John McCarthy said Friday's ghost gun was not the first of its kind seized on school property.
In terms of the number of ghost guns within the county, McCarthy said in 2019 there were 16 ghost guns seized on the streets of Montgomery County, in 2021 that number grew to 70.
“What's so dangerous about ghost guns and what was one of the primary concerns we had here in the county, kids can buy them. Kids can build them and kids can use them," McCarthy said. "I'm concerned in the community because this is not our first ghost gun case ceased from a juvenile.”
That seems to be the case for Friday's 17-year-old accused shooter. Montgomery County Chief of Police Marcus Jones said the student had the gun delivered to his home in parts.
"This ghost gun was actually purchased by the suspect," Jones said. "Three different parts were literally delivered to his home residence, this individual then put that gun together and took that gun to Magruder High School on that particular day. So I want to make sure that the understanding about the proliferation of privately manufactured firearms are being purchased by young people in our community. This is not the first time we've seen it."
Moving forward, Montgomery County Police Department will have a presence at each high school for the rest of the week.
