Updated at 6:56 p.m.
Montpelier police said they have seized firearms but made no arrests during an investigation that started more than a week ago into a “potential threat” made to Montpelier High School.
School officials said threats had been made by a student.
“This is a preliminary investigation to see … exactly if this was a credible threat or not,” Montpelier Police Chief Brian Peete said Wednesday afternoon, shortly after his department revealed news of its investigation in a one-paragraph press release.
The announcement came a day after a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two adults at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The Montpelier Police Department on May 17 “performed a preliminary investigation to a potential threat to the Montpelier High School,” according to its press release. Officers seized a hunting rifle, “an AR-style .22 rifle,” magazines and ammunition, according to the release.
Montpelier police notified state and federal authorities, they said in the release. The department is “working closely” with the FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Washington County State’s Attorney’s Office.
In a letter to community members published shortly after the police department’s announcement, Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools Superintendent Libby Bonesteel said that an “incredibly brave” student and school staff had tipped off administrators about “threats they heard made by a student against the school.”
“The (Montpelier Police Department) was contacted and took swift action,” Bonesteel wrote in the letter. “After a protective order was issued, the MPD confiscated two weapons and ammunition from the home. The student in question will not return to (Montpelier High School) this school year and is cooperating with officials. We did not announce this event publicly in the hopes that we could protect the people who came forward with information.”
In an interview, Bonesteel said that the threat was made verbally at school. The student has been out of school since last week, she said.
School officials had declined to publicize the incident to protect the people who had tipped them off, she said. Police made the decision to announce the investigation Wednesday.
Asked why he waited more than week to distribute the release, Peete replied, “The investigation is still ongoing and we were at a point where we feel that we could release some information and keep the community informed, but at the same time not compromise any investigation, any further acts, as well as protecting the folks who provided the information.”
Bonesteel said no scheduling or program changes are planned for the coming days.
“I think that administrators will come in and teachers will come in tomorrow and see what the situation requires for our kids,” she said.
In a Wednesday email to Montpelier High School students, principal Renée DeVore urged students not to treat such threats as a joke.
“In my time as an administrator, I have heard a thousand times that ‘it was just a joke’ when someone is caught saying/doing the wrong thing,” DeVore wrote. “This is the response we received in this situation as well.”
It was unclear whose response she was referring to.
“There is nothing funny when talking about guns or making threats at school (or anywhere for that matter), just as there’s nothing funny about making a derogatory remark toward another person,” DeVore wrote. “Words matter. And in this case, we have landed in a space where people are scared, anxious, and nervous because a student wanted to gain attention for the wrong reasons.”
Mia Moore, the vice chair of the district’s board of school directors, said she did not know what she was authorized to share and declined further comment.
Peete declined to reveal the nature of the threat. He said the firearms were seized off-campus, but would not specify where.
“At this particular point in time, it’s just one individual,” Peete said.
Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault said late Wednesday afternoon that his office applied for and was granted an Extreme Risk Protection Order — the terminology to describe Vermont’s red flag law — in Washington County Superior family court.
“What this allows for is for a state’s attorney to petition on information or report from law enforcement that an individual poses a risk of harm to themselves or others,” Thibault said.
If granted, he said, a person can be ordered to relinquish firearms they possess.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed the red flag law in 2018 after authorities uncovered a student’s plot to shoot up his school Fair Haven.
The order in this case has been issued on a temporary basis pending a final hearing, Thibault said.
