2 arrested after threat causes evacuation of Rainier Beach High School

Seattle, Wash. – Two people have been arrested in connection with a threat at Rainier Beach High School, which led to students evacuating the building and classes canceled earlier in the week.

Seattle Police Department investigators say both suspects, a 17-year-old and 21-year-old, were not students of Seattle Public Schools. During the arrests at an Auburn hotel on Thursday, police recovered two handguns, an extended magazine, a drum magazine, and ammunition.

On Friday, the school played its first basketball game at Bishop Blanchet High School since the threat, according to coaches. Its previous game against West Seattle was postponed due to the threats.

There was a sense of normalcy as many in the Viking family are still processing the entire situation.

“The worst thing that you can do as a parent is to try to make sense of something that doesn’t make any sense,” parent Ricole Jones said.

Jones believes things are tough for students these days, and fears threats and other forms of violence are becoming too similar.

“So, I don’t attempt to rationalize, but rather sympathize with their feelings and letting them know that I’m there for them. And whatever resource I have available at the table to them at the time, I offer,” Jones said.

Seattle police say what helped them out during the situation and the investigation, was information from a student. They say that for such situations, the public needs to speak to them.

“I understand it can sometimes be scary and you don’t want to be a tattletale, a rat, a nark, whatever you wanna call it. But there are always ways to do it discreetly and safely, and it’s so important because it can save someone’s life or multiple people’s lives,” Detective Valarie Carson said.

While parents are happy that arrests were made, they believe there is still more work to do to ensure schools are safer.

“But I do think that more support is needed. And I think that this is an opportunity for our public officials to really come and show up and show how much they care about our kids,” Jones said.

The 21-year-old is currently being held at the King County Jail for unlawful possession of a firearm, and the 17-year-old was taken to the King County Children and Family Justice Center for felony domestic violence harassment.

Seattle police say people can remain anonymous when submitting tips to them. To learn more, click here.

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