FORKS — A 17-year-old Forks High School student with a toy handgun prompted a 15-minute school-wide lockdown in Forks on Wednesday.
The male student allegedly aimed and fired a spring airsoft gun containing plastic projectiles at several friends in the high school parking lot, according to the Forks Police Department.
The student was being held Thursday at the Clallam County Juvenile Detention Center in Port Angeles, and law enforcement officials are considering possible criminal charges.
“Toy guns that look real at schools . . . is not funny, and it is not a game,” Forks Police Chief Mike Powell said in a press release.
“Serious and deadly consequences can result in this type of activity.”
Powell was referring to the incident of a 15-year-old male in Florida who was shot and killed by police officers at his middle school last Friday after waiving around a toy handgun painted to look real.
Quillayute Valley Schools Superintendent Frank Walter said he didn’t believe there was any ill intent by the student, but questioned his judgment.
“There’s no malice or menace, but goodness gracious, ‘What were you thinking?”‘ he said.
All buildings locked down
Forks Police Department responded to a call from a witness in a nearby parking lot at about 3:30 p.m., Powell said.
The witness said a white male with a mohawk and wearing a trench coat was waving a handgun near the high school auto shop building.
Police urged school officials to lock down all buildings on campus.
