Franklin teenagers evacuated a school bus with their hands in the air on Wednesday morning as police investigated a school threat.
No one on the bus was connected with the threat that had been emailed to a teacher, but police did find a teen who had unintentionally left a knife in his backpack, police said. He was taken away in handcuffs, a video taken by a passerby showed.
That same teen had raised concerns at an elementary school where students switch buses to head to their destinations. The student, an 18-year-old, had wanted to get off a school bus and into a car, but a principal wouldn’t let him, Franklin schools superintendent David Clendening said. This happened as the investigation into the threat was underway, Clendening said.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryPolice wanted to talk to the teen, who was on a school bus headed to Franklin Community High School, because he might have been a person of interest in the threat, Clendening said. He was not a suspect, Clendening said.
The incident started at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday when a teacher received a threat via email. The details of the email have not been released. The school was on lockdown all day and police began an investigation. No one has been arrested in the threat.
Police officers were stationed in and outside the high school Wednesday as students completed their last day of finals.
When Clendening learned of the teen who had wanted to get in a car, as the threat investigation was underway, he told police.
Police had the bus stop on the way to the high school, Franklin Police Chief Tim O’Sullivan said.
A father who had just dropped his children off at Needham Elementary saw the bus stop, with six police cars around it, and stopped to see what was happening.
Ronnie Shepperd took a video and watched the police officers stand at the back of the bus for a few moments, then walk to the door at the front of the bus, he said. Two officers stayed behind, while the rest went onto the bus.
“Kids started coming off the bus with their hands in the air,” Shepperd said.
O’Sullivan said police wanted to clear the bus quickly.
“We told them to keep their hands out of their pockets, keep your hands where we can see them,” O’Sullivan said.
After several minutes, police let the students get back on the bus, but they put one student in handcuffs and led him away, Shepperd said.
O’Sullivan said he and officers removed the student because the teen had acted suspiciously by getting off and on the bus.
The student also was carrying a large bag.
The teen has been cleared of any involvement in the threat, had made no threats and had no intention to do any harm with the knife in his bag, O’Sullivan said.
The student forgot that it was in his bag, he told police.
Detectives are still working to determine who sent the threat, he said.
Parents were told of the lockdown at 7:40 a.m. Classes and finals continued as scheduled, but parents were given the option to keep their children home and have them make up the finals on Jan. 6, a news release from the school said.
“I want to commend the police department, FCHS staff and students for following our safety protocol,” Clendening said.
“As always, we want to encourage staff and students, if you see something, say something.”
