APD Says Student In Custody After Gun Incident at Dimond High

Anchorage police responded in force Tuesday morning to Dimond High School and took a student into custody after school officials say he showed off a BB gun to other students, one of whom informed an assistant principal.

APD spokesperson Anita Shell says dispatchers received an initial call on the incident at 9:37 a.m. Police entered a classroom at the school with 17 students present, clearing it and taking a 16-year-old male student into custody without incident.

School officials say the building was briefly in lockdown, but later shifted to stay-put mode and is now back to normal. According to APD school resource officers were already present at the scene, and a total of 15 officers eventually responded to the call.

Dani Myren, another APD spokesperson, told the Associated Press that the student is accused of pointing what appeared to be a handgun at another student. It took the other student about an hour to report the incident to school officials.

The student was taken into custody, and is facing charges of terroristic threatening, misconduct involving a weapon and assault. Police say the weapon, a BB gun that closely resembles a Glock 40 handgun, was found in the student's backpack.

“The student right now is on an emergency suspension, so regardless of whether the student ends up in McLaughlin or a similar facility, the student will not be returning to school for at least 45 days,” Heidi Embley, Anchorage School District spokesperson, said. “But at that point, we will likely have recommended expulsion.”

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