A teenager faces assault charges after the Frederick County, Maryland, sheriff’s office said he threatened a school resource officer and other students in the high school with a knife following a fight.
It happened at Gov. Thomas Johnson High School in Frederick on Wednesday morning — the first day of the new school year.
Two SROs saw a fight starting between two groups of students and intervened to prevent the fight from escalating, a Frederick County Sheriff’s Office news release said.
One SRO escorted one student away, while the other tried to “de-escalate the other student and escort him from the area.”
The sheriff’s office said the second student resisted and “began to physically push and try to get away from the SRO so he could go after the other involved student.”
That’s when the SRO displayed his stun gun, but did not use it. The 16-year-old student, SRO and a school administrator then went to an office.
Inside, the sheriff’s office said the teenager brandished a folding knife and opened it. He “held it in an aggressive manner at the SRO while making verbal threats of violence against the SRO and other students in the building,” the news release said.
The SRO then displayed his stun gun again and did not use it, while telling the student to drop the knife.
The sheriff’s office said the student dropped the knife, but resisted the SRO who was trying to arrest him before sheriff’s deputies took the teen into custody.
“This incident at Governor Thomas Johnson High School is not how we, or our partners at Frederick County Public Schools, wanted the school year to start,” said Lt. Brian Woodward, Frederick County Sheriff’s Office SRO commander.
The student faces a string of charges, including first and second-degree assault, dangerous weapon on school property, resisting arrest and threats of mass violence, among others.
The sheriff’s office said that juvenile court does not have jurisdiction over the charge of first-degree assault. The teenager was taken to the adult detention center where he was charged as an adult.
The sheriff’s office did not identify the student.
