A credible threat of gun violence forced the cancellation of Rochester High School's senior night football game against Centralia on Friday, and the 15-year-old suspect connected to that threat was briefly set free after Thurston County deputies hit a bureaucratic snag that kept the sheriff himself in the dark for more than a day.
According to komonews.com, the Rochester School District resource officer began investigating the threat on Friday, and investigators ultimately established probable cause to arrest the teen for disturbing school activities, a misdemeanor under Washington law. Washington State Patrol troopers located the teenager during a traffic stop and turned him over to the Thurston County Sheriff's Office, which transported him to Youth Services for booking.
That's where things went sideways. Youth Services declined to book the teen because the misdemeanor charge didn't meet its normal booking threshold, and he was released from police custody without deputies escalating the issue further at that time, the station's report states.
Sheriff Says He Wasn't Told for Over a Day
Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders said he didn't learn that the suspect had been refused booking and released until late Saturday night — well after the fact. Sanders described the circumstances surrounding the alleged threat as exceptional, and once he found out, he moved quickly to fix it, contacting Youth Services himself, per the same account.
Youth Services agreed to make a booking exception if the extenuating circumstances were documented on the paperwork. Sanders then directed deputies to track the teen back down, and he was back in custody within 30 minutes before finally being booked into juvenile detention, komonews.com reported.
“As Sheriff I take full responsibility for the breakdown in this incident,” Sanders said, according to the outlet, adding that his office will review its response to ensure similar situations are properly escalated going forward. As KIRO 7 News Seattle also reported, Sanders said deputies did not escalate the issue after the teen was initially denied booking, which is what left him in the dark until Saturday night.
Investigation Continues as Some Witnesses Stay Quiet
The investigation remains ongoing, and some people have declined to cooperate with it, according to KIRO 7's reporting. The Daily Chronicle reported that the case is still under further investigation and that anyone with relevant information is being asked to come forward.
The Rochester-Centralia matchup was not the only Thurston County game disrupted that weekend. The Tumwater School District canceled its Pioneer Bowl against Black Hills High School out of caution while police searched for a juvenile suspected of posting online threats referencing that game, per komonews.com's coverage of the broader wave of threats hitting Thurston and King County schools.
A 14-year-old from King County was later arrested on suspicion of making threats to bomb or injure property tied to that Tumwater-Black Hills cancellation, according to The Olympian. That juvenile was taken into custody at the Tumwater Police Department with a family member's cooperation and without incident, the paper reported. West 42 Sports noted that the two threats, one targeting the Pioneer Bowl and the other tied to the Rochester-Centralia game, appeared to be coincidental.
Makeup Games and Added Security
Both canceled games were rescheduled for Monday. West 42 Sports reported the Pioneer Bowl would be played Monday night at Sid Otton Field, with Tumwater entering at 7-0 and Black Hills at 3-3. Reports differed on the exact kickoff time for the Rochester-Centralia makeup game, with komonews.com citing 6 p.m. and the Daily Chronicle reporting 6:30 p.m., both at Rochester High School.
Law enforcement is expected to have a stronger presence at the rescheduled Rochester-Centralia game, per the sheriff's office. Under state law, willfully creating a disturbance on school premises during school hours or at school activities is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of no more than $50, according to Washington State Legislature records. A separate statute requires probable cause before a juvenile can be held in detention, though the specific conditions were not detailed in the available text.
