Gun Threat At Patterson Mill High School Investigated

UPDATE (11:13 p.m.)—A student allegedly threatened to bring a gun to Patterson Mill High School two weeks ago, police confirmed.

A freshman boy told two others students at lunch he had access to guns and wanted to shoot people in school, according to Capt. Keith Warner with the Harford County Sheriff's Office and a story on ExploreHarford.com. He told his fellow students his dad had a gun, Capt. Keith Warner wrote in an email to Patch Tuesday.

The other students reported the incident to school administration who then notified the school resource officer, Warner wrote.

The student reportedly told the school resource officer he did not actually intend to hurt anyone. The boy's mother told police he is dealing with personal issues, is in regular therapy and sometimes fabricates information for attention, according to the story on ExploreHarford.com.

The incident was reported to the Harford County Sheriff's Office Sept. 11.

The boy does not have access to firearms at his home and police do not believe there is a significant threat to student or staff safety, Capt. Keith Warner wrote in an email to Patch Tuesday.

"Schools system personnel were made aware and proper security measure were put into place," Warner wrote.

On the first day of the school year a shooting at Perry Hall High School, just over the line in Baltimore County, shook the community. A 17-year-old student was shot and a 15-year-old classmate was charged in connection with the Perry Hall shooting.

Teri Kranefeld, manager of communications with Harford County Public Schools, told Patch at the time that Harford County schools have strategies in place for dealing with emergencies.

"As always, the safety of our students and staff is our number one priority," Kranefeld wrote in an email to Patch at the time.

Kranefeld also included the following outline of security strategies implemented by the school system:

1. Each school has a critical incident plan and drills are conducted every year to ensure that the plan can be executed effectively.

2. Harford County Public Schools has an excellent working relationship with local and state fire, police, and EMS. Active-shooter drills are conducted with key players to practice the role of each agency in an emergency.

3. HCPS Administrators have been trained in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) program. NIMS is an emergency preparedness program created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

4. All schools are locked down with a visitor management system in place to help ensure that all buildings remain safe.

5. A School Resource Officer is assigned to each high school. Those officers also serve the feeder elementary and middle schools. 

6. Weapons of any kind are not allowed on school property or buses.

Kranefeld was not available for comment at post time.