Additional school police officers patrolled San Diego’s Scripps Ranch High School Thursday morning after a comment was made by a student potentially threatening violence at the campus.
Principal Nicole DeWitt sent a memo to Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) families regarding the matter, which she said officials were actively addressing.
“Yesterday evening, we were informed that a comment was made by a student that indicated a possible threat to our campus. Law enforcement was immediately notified and both SDPD and School Police have been investigating this matter and are confident there are no credible threats to Scripps Ranch High School,” the principal’s note read.
DeWitt said that “in an abundance of caution,” extra school police officers would be present at the campus Thursday morning.
The note to parents came less than 24 hours after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in south Florida that left 17 people dead and others wounded. Former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, was arrested in the killing spree that became one of the deadly mass school shootings in U.S. history.
NBC 7 spoke with school police Thursday who said the concerning comment allegedly made by the student toward SRHS was made before the Florida school shooting but was brought to the attention of police Wednesday.
Officers went to the student’s home and he told police the comment was a joke. The student and his mother will meet with DeWitt Thursday to talk about the incident. The student was not arrested, school police said.
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SRHS is located at 10410 Treena St. in the community of Scripps Ranch. The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) campus serves more than 2,200 students in grades nine through 12.
This wasn’t the only scare at a San Diego school in the hours following the Florida shooting.
On Wednesday at around 3 p.m., two schools in the Skyline area – Fulton Elementary School and Morse High School – were placed on lockdown following reports that someone had flashed a gun to a student at the high school.
Police said the suspect fled from the school on foot westbound on Skyline Drive and then possibly got into a car. San Diego Police Department officers searched for the suspect by ground and helicopter while the campuses remained on lockdown for about an hour and 20 minutes. Though classes had been dismissed for the day, there were still about 200 students and staff at Morse High School.
Parents received an automated call from the school district alerting them of the situation. The lockdowns were lifted around 4:20 p.m.
