DUCHESNE, Utah – Three Duchesne High School students, a 15-year-old and two 14-year-olds, were taken into custody, one at gunpoint, following an alleged threat of violence and reported “active shooter” situation.
A small group of students reported the threat to Duchesne High School principal, Stan Young around 1:40 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
The students told Young that an attack was about to take place, similar to that seen in the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. The students also provided the name of three students involved in the planning of the attack.
Young said the students were “obviously stressed,” he immediately placed the school on lockdown and reported the incident to authorities. Duchesne Elementary School was also placed on lock-down as a precaution.
Deputies with DCSO responded to the call in less than two minutes and were escorted to a classroom at the East end of the school. The deputies took one young man into custody at gunpoint.
“Because this was dispatched as an active shooter call our deputies responded accordingly and appropriately,” said Duchesne County Sheriff David Boren.
A school search led officers to detain two other Duchesne High students for questioning.
DCSO said two of the students had small knives in their possession as well as a two hand-drawn diagram, one depicting how to build an explosive device, the other for an improvised firearm.
According to Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office, one of the teens told a detective he was supposed to be “the shooter,” the other two were supposed to be “the bombers.” Detectives also mentioned that the boys admitted to being bullied in the past.
The names of the students involved are not being released due to their ages.
There were no firearms nor explosives located during the search and the lock-down was lifted in just under an hour, according to DCSO.
Officers with Roosevelt Police Department, Adult Probation and Parole and Utah Highway Patrol assisted DCSO in searching the school.
