Threat puts Farmin Stidwell in lockdown

SANDPOINT — A telephoned threat warning of gun violence against students put Farmin Stidwell Elementary School in lockdown mode on Thursday afternoon.

Law officers from four agencies converged on the school and methodically swept it, but found no intruders or suspicious items, according to Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon.

In an automated message to parents of Lake Pend Oreille School District students, Superintendent Shawn Woodward called the threat a “hoax.”

Coon said a school official took a call at 2:06 p.m. and the caller indicated that a person with an assault weapon intended to attack children.

“Dozens will die,” the caller allegedly said.

The voice of the caller sounded female. There were reports that the voice sounded automated, suggesting that the threat may have been pre-recorded and played back into the phone or there was some attempt to disguise the caller’s voice.

The school immediately activated its lockdown procedures. Life Care Center, an assisted-living facility which neighbors the school, also went into lockdown mode.

Officers from Sandpoint and Ponderay, in addition to Bonner County sheriff’s deputies and Idaho State Police troopers did searches of the school’s perimeter and a three-phase interior search.

Coon said the first sweep was meant to identify and locate the threat. A second more detailed sweep checked closets and cupboards. The third sweep was conducted and the students were released.

Investigators are using phone records in an attempt to pinpoint the source of the threat, said Coon.

“We don’t know why it was made,” Coon said of the threat.

Threatening violence on school grounds is a misdemeanor, according to Idaho Code. The prosecution is not required to prove that a suspect actually intended to carry out the threat.

Coon said students and staff reacted swiftly and correctly.

“They were all in classrooms, doors were shut and hidden in corners — just exactly like they’d been practicing, which is great to see,” said Coon.

The threat was received just as parents were starting to arrive to pick their children up at the end of the school day. Word of the situation spread quickly across social media.

A large group of parents formed on Spruce Street, across from the school’s southern entrance. Coon said he was grateful for the parents’ patience and cooperation in staying a safe distance from the school.

“That makes our job so much easier to do when we don’t have to fight with them. Our community, as a whole, was great,” said Coon.

Coon said the cooperation among the various agencies also went smoothly.

One thing Coon would like see improved upon is a more orderly way to reunite parents with their children.

“Even though every parent found their kid and every kid was accounted for when they left, it was a little chaotic at the end trying to get parents paired up to their children,” said Coon.