Police arrest teen for false reporting in Central lockdown

By Journal staff | Tuesday, April 17, 2007

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RAPID CITY n It never happened.

There was never a gunman at Rapid City Central High School this morning after all, Rapid City Police Capt. Ed Hofkamp now says. A 15-year-old student at the school has admitted to investigators to fabricating the story of seeing a gunman in the Central parking lot, Hofkamp said.

“The information he gave was false,” he said. “It did not occur. There was never a gunman in the school. There was never any risk to the students.”

Hofkamp released the information to reporters shortly after 1 p.m., following more than three hours of intense law-enforcement action at Central and a lock-down of all schools in town.

Hofkamp said the 15-year-old student, who has been arrested for false reporting, gave the information to a security guard at the school, which resulted in a call to police.

Officers for the police department, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, state Division of Criminal Investigation and South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department were among those who responded to secure the building at Central, search for a gunman and, class by class, move students to the nearby Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

Officers also rushed to Grandview Elementary School in the southern part of town, following a vague report of shots being fired. Hofkamp said the report was probably a phony, too.

Asked how much the response to the hoaxes cost, Hofkamp said: “I would hesitate to respond, but it’s quite a bit. This is what we do in public service.”

The phony report by the 15-year-old also led police to release a description of the alleged suspect: He was described as being an American Indian male, about 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds, wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.

Police received the report at about 9:45 a.m. and responded

within two minutes. Teams surrounded Central High School at about 9:50 a.m.

The building was locked down, and police, sheriff’s deputies and officers with the local strategic response team were stationed at the entrances to the school and on the grounds around the building.

Hofkamp reported that all students were safe at 10:40 a.m.

Authorities also responded to a report of shots being fired at Grandview Elementary School, in the southern part of town. Hofkamp said officers there couldn’t confirm the report of shots being fired.

“At this point, we consider that a malicious call,” he said.

Response team members had released about 20 classes from Central High School by noon and were continuing to release other classes as the building was searched. Students were taken across Eighth Street from Central to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

Hofkamp said the civic center had been secured prior to moving the students there.

Hofkamp said police received a call about the supposed gunman at about 9:45 a.m.

Harry Brenden, assistant superintendent, said it was a student who reported seeing an individual with a gun in the Central High School parking lot.

A nine-person special response team of personnel from the police department, sheriff’s office and state Division of Criminal Investigation was sent into the school, Hofkamp said.

“They’ve been trained specifically for this type of situation,” he said.

A student inside the building, senior Ben Ericks, said that he and the rest of his government class were lying on the floor.

He said school officials called a lockdown during a passing period between classes. Ericks said school officials reported that there was someone in the building with a handgun but that the person had left.

Ericks said at 10:25 a.m. that they hadn’t heard anything for about 15 minutes.

“We’re just chilling on the floor,” Ericks said.

Another student, senior Anthony Curtis, used his cell phone to text message his mother, Marsha Pluth, to say that the school had just turned off the lights about 10:11 a.m. and school officials asked all the students to stay quiet and wait.

Authorities established an area in the nearby Albertson’s supermarket parking lot for parents.

Pluth began to relax after she learned from her son that he had been taken to the civic center. But the reported gunman and lockdown touched on one of her greatest fears.

“Every day I go to school and see all those kids going in and it scares the heck out of me,” she said. “It always makes me wonder, which one of them is having a bad day?”

At about 11 a.m., authorities were leading students from the school across Eighth Street to the west side of the civic center.

Hofkamp said authorities were taking all possible precautions to assure the safety of the students and school personnel.

“We don’t want to make any errors,” he said.

Authorities locked down other schools in the district as a precaution.

Numerous calls from worried parents were received throughout the morning as news of the school lockdowns swept through the city. As the main law-enforcement effort focused on Central, a second team of about 20 officers converged on Grandview.

Shortly after 11 a.m. an unmarked police car sped up to Grandview School, and two officers got out and approached the school, rounding a corner of the building with guns drawn.

Eventually about 20 officers were on the scene, some with either rifles or shotguns.

At about 11:45 a.m. a sheriff’s deputy said the building was safe. And soon after that, sheriff’s office investigator Mark Alley walked out of the building and across the playground to tell parents their children would be released.

He also said police had entered the building forcefully.

I’ll have to apologize to the lunch lady, because I pretty much tackled her,” Alley said.

The commotion didn’t seem to shake 5-year-old Braden Huehl, however.

“We had to sit down,” he said after being released from the school. “We got to rest our legs a lot.”