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Unverified threat against Millard High leads to ‘soft lockdown’ at Fillmore schools

Posted at 10:55 AM, Sep 27, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-27 16:28:36-04

FILLMORE, Utah — Schools in Fillmore are on a “soft lockdown” Thursday as police investigate an unverified threat at Millard High School.

The Millard County Sheriff’s Office posted about the soft lockdown around 10:35 a.m. Thursday.

Ken Griffiths, a business administrator for Millard School District, said classes continued as normal with the exception that classes for p.m. kindergarten students were canceled.

He said a soft lockdown means the external doors are locked, and in this case there are several extra officers at the school.

In an update posted later in the day, the sheriff’s office states that things began last week when a young sales clerk at a local convenience store told a customer he was “waiting to shoot a school.”

That incident was not immediately reported to police, and the sheriff’s office stated that Thursday morning a school resource officer received a tip that someone was going to carry out a shooting during an assembly at Millard High Thursday.

Police took immediate action and ultimately determined the tip from Thursday morning actually stemmed from the statement the clerk made last week, and that “inaccuracies had developed as it went through the ‘grapevine'”.

Police said they believe the situation is safe, but the lockdown will remain in effect Thursday and they will have additional police at schools in the area.

“For now, what comes out of this experience, is a demonstration of coordinated concern and processes to keep students safe,” police stated. “We feel good about our coordinated law enforcement response today as many on-duty and off-duty Deputies and Highway Patrolman rapidly deployed. Should there be shortcomings, they will come to light and allow us to address them.”

Authorities say they are investigating the individual who made the statement about a shooting.