Nathen Donnelly said, “They told us to keep our hands out of our pockets and not go to our backpacks, and one kid ran over to his backpack and started reaching into it. I was terrified that was gonna scare the cops. I’m glad we’re all safe. I’m glad that we can talk about this.” Photo by: Charlize McFarlin

Two students arrested and charged for three crimes

On May 2, at around 12:40 p.m., VHS went on lockdown on account of reported bomb threats and a shooting on campus. Two separate calls were made to the school, and they didn’t specify if it was an active threat or a future one. After the school received these calls, the police department was contacted.

Estrella Nuñez ‘28 said, “I thought the bell was being crazy at first but then I heard my friends say, ‘Get in and duck down’ so I ran inside and ran to the corner of Mr. Donnelly’s room.”

Aaliyah Reyes ‘28 said, “We just stayed here for an hour, not knowing what to do. I was confused and I didn’t know what to do. I immediately started texting my sister because she’s in the same school as us, but she wasn’t replying so I texted her boyfriend. He did respond and she was there with him. So I was glad that she was okay.”

The police arrived on campus and searched the school then later brought in explosive detection dogs for further inspection. At around 2:30 p.m., the police traced the call back to a student, pulled him from Nathan Donnelly’s room and searched him.

Donnelly said, “I think the scariest part was one, realizing that I was on the phone with the police and realizing that the person was in our classroom. That was scary. When the police opened the door, what I was most scared of was some kid moving the wrong way and spooking the cops.”

The police later lined the students in the room up against a wall outside the classroom where they pulled another student and searched him. Initially, three students were suspected to have been in on it but only two were arrested. The students, both 15, were detained on suspicion of criminal threats, false report of a bomb and conspiracy. The third student suspected was found innocent and released back to their parents. At around 3:30 p.m. the lockdown was lifted and students were let out. According to VC Star, the police later described the calls as a ‘hoax’ and urged parents to inform their children about the impacts of such jokes.