Shots send Thoreau schools into lockdown

A Navajo Nation Police officer talks with a Thoreau High School security guard in front of the damaged bus in parking lot in front of Thoreau High School Friday afternoon. A school bus had one of its windows broken out while students were riding on the bus in front of the school. Initial reports said that there were shots fired at the time of the incident. Navajo Nation Police officials are still determining what was used in the damage of the bus. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Leslie Wood
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Reports of shots fired into an occupied Thoreau school bus prompted school officials to lock down both the high school and middle school while authorities searched for a suspect on Friday afternoon.

The report comes less than a week after a student at Virginia Tech shot and killed 32 students and faculty.

Sgt. Darell Betone, the acting lieutenant for the Crownpoint Police District, said officers were called to Thoreau High School at about 3:20 p.m. in reference to shots fired at a school bus that was parked in the high school parking lot.

Betone said three students and a bus driver were inside the parked bus at the time of the incident; however, no injuries were reported. All high school and middle school students were then ushered into the school as a safety precaution, Betone said. Students were kept inside the schools until about 4:15 p.m. Their bags and belongings were searched as part of protocol, he said.

"The kids were safe at all times during the incident," Betone said.

Betone said officials had yet to examine any damage caused to the bus that transports children to the Thoreau and Bluewater areas. Some officials have said the damage may have been caused by a rock that was thrown at the bus rather than gun shots, but no official determination has been released.

Authorities do have a suspect in mind and said he or she may be a student who was suspended from school. The suspect fled the school's campus following the incident and no arrests have been made.

"We do have witnesses who identified some individuals," Betone said.

Betone said McKinley County sheriff's deputies and state police also responded to the scene, but the Crownpoint district was the lead agency.

"Because of everything that's happening in our country right now, we don't argue over jurisdiction," he said. " ... We're thankful for their assistance."

Kristy Villanueva, an assistant at Thoreau Middle School, said she was on duty near the buses when she heard the reports of shots fired.

Villanueva said she escorted students to the school's rear parking lot and then into the gym, where they remained for about an hour.

Parent Wenona Henry, of Smith Lake, said she grew worried when her son didn't return home from school at 4 p.m., but was later relieved when she spoke to him by cell phone.

"I got really scared and worried, but he told me everything was okay," Henry said as she escorted her son from school.

Betone said any follow-up investigation will be conducted by the Crownpoint agency's criminal investigations division.