FILLMORE, Utah, Sept. 27, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Schools in Fillmore were placed on a “soft lockdown” Thursday morning while sheriff’s officials responded to an “unverified threat” at Millard High School.
A Facebook post from Millard County Sheriff’s Office at 10:45 a.m. said classes were continuing as normal, but exterior doors were locked and additional law enforcement units were on scene to ensure safety while information was looked into.
“We are dealing with very vague information brought forth only this morning,” the first post said.
An update from MCSO on Facebook on Thursday afternoon said: “A week ago, a young sales clerk in a local convenience store attended to a customer. Within the transaction, the unknown male [the customer] offered up a statement that he was ‘waiting to shoot a school.’ That information was not immediately brought forth to authorities.”
On Thursday morning, the post goes on, as the Fillmore area School Resource Officer was reporting to work, “literally minutes before an assembly at Millard High School, he was approached with information that there would be a shooting at the assembly at Millard High School this morning.”
“We along with the local schools took immediate action. The investigation has revealed that from the original statement made last week, inaccuracies had developed as it went through the ‘grapevine.'”
The post said officials will continue an investigation to identify the individual who made the statement, whether he is a local resident, and if there is a valid threat against any specific location. More information will be released upon its development.
“Clearly, the timely reporting of such statements more fully empowers authorities to effectively and proportionately react,” the post says. “We continue to encourage the immediate reporting of such statements related to school violence. In our current climate, no statement regarding school violence can be ignored or tolerated. The delay in this information clearly allowed a mutation of fact which rendered concern, anxiety, and resource allocation at a time and place contrary to the actual facts. Nonetheless, given the attention and response thus far today, Fillmore schools will remain on soft lockdown through the remainder of the day and law enforcement will have an increased presence out of precaution and peace of mind. We believe this situation is safe.”
The post concludes: “For now, what comes out of this experience, is a demonstration of coordinated concern and processes to keep students safe. We feel good about our coordinated law enforcement response today as many on-duty and off-duty deputies and highway patrolman rapidly deployed.”
Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information is made available.
