MLPD arrests CMMS student

MOSES LAKE — Officers with the Moses Lake Police Department on Monday morning arrested an eighth-grader in possession of a firearm at Chief Moses Middle School, according to MLPD Chief Kevin Fuhr.

“Just after school started this morning, officers were advised of a student at Chief Moses Middle School, who was armed with a handgun,” said Fuhr during an impromptu press conference at the Moses Lake School District offices Monday afternoon.

Fuhr, who is also the president of the Moses Lake School Board, said the 13-year-old student was pulled out of class by the MLPD school resource officer on duty without incident.

“While talking to the student, they discovered a handgun in his bag, along with a couple of magazines for the handgun that were loaded with ammunition,” Fuhr said. “They also discovered a list of students and staff that were identified as potential targets of the student.”

According to a statement from CMMS Principal Vicki Swisher, the incident happened at around 9:45 a.m. Fuhr said it was a matter of minutes between the time students alerted school security of the threat and school resource officers acted.

“We were able to get the student out, remove him from his backpack, which is where the handgun and the ammunition were located,” Fuhre said. “We were able to separate him from the firearm. So all of that happened within just a few minutes.”

Fuhr said he could not name the student, nor would he comment if the student had a previous criminal record.

Fuhr said the student is currently in custody awaiting transport to the regional juvenile detention facility in Medical Lake. He also said officers working to obtain the student’s electronic devices examine the student’s social media accounts for evidence the student expressed or communicated violent intentions with others.

“Until we can get into the electronic devices, we won't know whether there were any outgoing or incoming messages about this prior to this morning,” Fuhr said.

Fuhr said the MLSD has contacted the people on the student’s list so they could take whatever precautions they believed were necessary, and that MLPD detectives continue to investigate the incident.

He also encouraged students or adults to contact the MLPD if they had additional information.

“We’re working to see if there's any other suspects. We haven't identified anybody that was involved other than the 13-year-old that was arrested,” Fuhr said.

Fuhr said the arrest is a perfect example of students who saw something speaking up to say something to school officials, and that a very serious incident was averted.

“We can't thank the students enough for speaking up in this case, and letting us know about this potential threat before it got to a point where somebody was injured or killed,” Fuhr said. “So we can't thank those students enough.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com