Teen impersonated fellow student to 911 during Bremerton school lockdown

BREMERTON — A 14-year-old Bremerton High School student was arrested last week for impersonating a fellow student to 911 dispatchers and reporting that he was "currently shooting up the school," according to Bremerton police reports of the incident.

The 14-year-old's report to 911 spurred the school into lockdown and ended up getting the other student he'd impersonated arrested, reports said.

School administrators and police quickly secured and locked down the school at about 9:45 a.m. Sept. 22, reports said. Police detained the student whose name was mentioned as "shooting" to 911. While he denied he'd made the call, officers found he'd been in possession of the phone that called 911.

But police found there was a second 911 call, in another classroom about 25 minutes later, that spurred the lockdown. On that second call, when 911 dispatchers called back to attempt to find out if everything was OK, the 14-year-old reportedly took the name of his fellow student and reported the threat.   

Only once officers had sorted out what had happened was the other student, who was being taken to the Kitsap County Juvenile Detention Center, driven back to school and released.

The 14-year-old suspect, meanwhile, was then arrested on suspicion of harassment, identity theft and making false reports, police said.

Karen Bevers, school district spokeswoman, said the district has to take every threat seriously, but lockdowns take a toll: including creating "feelings of fear, stress and trauma for many of our students, staff and their families," she said. The district sent parents and families reminders to discuss the seriousness and consequences of making prank calls to 911 and impersonating fellow students.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Teen impersonated fellow student in Bremerton school lockdown