A police vehicle is seen near the gate of Kagman High School on Wednesday morning. Photo by Bryan Manabat
DPS spokesman Dre Pangelinan said there was “no [shooting] incident” when asked about the school lockdown as spread in the community and on social media.
In a statement, DPS said at about 10:27 a.m. on Wednesday, it received a 911 call from the KHS main office.
“At about 10:30 a.m., nearby police units arrived at the scene and met with the principal, who briefed officers on the incident. The principal showed officers that an email was sent to her school email address from a student’s email address. The principal met with the student/owner of the email address who stated that [he] did not send the email. Upon further investigation, it was found that the student was transitioning to another class during the time the email was sent and may have left [his] email account logged in at one of the school’s computers. The school was searched for weapons, and after completing the search, no weapon was found, and the school was cleared by approximately 12 p.m.”
DPS “would like to remind the public to be mindful when utilizing public computers and/or electronics, and always remember to log out of your online accounts.”
The case remains ongoing. If you have any information about this incident, call 911 or if you wish to remain anonymous call the CNMI Crime Stoppers hotline at 234-7272.
Big issue
In a separate interview on Wednesday, Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada said the Public School System does not take shooting threats lightly and will not hesitate to seek assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to catch the perpetrator.
Ada was attending the Fiscal, Personnel and Administration Committee meeting of the Board of Education on Wednesday when he received an email from Kagman High School regarding the “shooting threat.”
He said the shooting threat is a big issue that warrants investigation. “They [FBI] will not stop until they find [the suspect]. With the latest technology, it is easy to backtrack and find the culprit/s,” he added.
“If it is a student, you are not going to win, you will get caught. So if you are playing around or you are serious, don’t even do it. Go find help and talk to someone before you do anything stupid,” the commissioner said.
When there is any negative incident or life-threatening situation in school, Ada said his office will be informed first and then the Department of Public Safety.
“Then they will take it further to the FBI who will go through our network… In due time, he or she will get caught,” he said in an interview.
A student caught using phone lines or emails to make threats is considered a category 1 offense, and the consequence will be expulsion, Ada said.
“Sometimes the student may be unstable or undergoing some mental health issue or just being silly. So he or she will also receive counseling,” Ada said.
