Mountlake Terrace High School went into lockdown for about 15 minutes Thursday afternoon after administrators received word of a possible firearm on campus, and the scare ended with a student arrested and a handgun recovered by school staff and police. The lockdown began around 1:30 p.m. and was lifted by 1:45 p.m., with dismissal proceeding as scheduled.
According to mymltnews.com, administrators and law enforcement recovered the handgun during the investigation, before the lockdown was lifted, as school and district leaders worked with police. Staff quickly isolated the student involved, and Mountlake Terrace police made the arrest. As KOMO News reported, lockdown procedures required staff to keep students in classrooms while administrators and law enforcement worked to confirm the campus was safe.
School Leaders Urge Families to Speak Up
Principal David Friedle encouraged students, staff and parents to report perceived threats or suspicious activity right away, saying any concerns should be flagged immediately so they can be promptly and thoroughly investigated, per the same account. The school reiterated that student and staff safety is always its highest priority and called situations like Thursday's very concerning. Officials noted that tips can be submitted around the clock through the Edmonds School District's Vector Alert Online Reporting System.
Other Washington School Incidents
An incident at Edmonds-Woodway High School occurred on Sept. 29, 2022, when administrators called 911 after receiving reports that a 15-year-old student had brought a gun to class, according to My Edmonds News, prompting the Edmonds School District to say it would revise its response procedures so police are brought into investigations sooner.
Elsewhere in the state, a 14-year-old student at White River High School in Buckley was arrested and booked into juvenile detention after a tip about a potential firearm on a school bus triggered a brief lockdown, FOX 13 Seattle reported. In that case, officials searched the student and the campus but confirmed no firearm was found, and investigators said probable cause was established for felony threats before the teen was booked into Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center.
A comparable incident outside Washington unfolded at Bell Gardens High School in California, where a student was arrested after allegedly bringing a handgun onto campus, triggering a lockdown, according to CBS Los Angeles. Police there said there was no active shooter situation, no shots were fired and no students or staff were injured.
Weapons Incidents Have Declined Statewide
State data suggest campus weapons cases, while still frequent, have been trending downward. Washington public and private schools reported 2,180 weapon-possession incidents during the 2023–2024 school year, including 263 involving firearms, according to the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. That marked a 15.2% decrease in reported weapons incidents compared with the previous school year, the agency found.
State law requires OSPI to report those figures to the Legislature each year under RCW 28A.320.130. Separately, the federal Gun-Free Schools Act requires states receiving federal education funding to mandate at least a one-year expulsion for a student determined to have brought a weapon to school, though that penalty is subject to case-by-case modification by the appropriate authority, per the agency's report.
