No charges in school lockdown

SCARBOROUGH — Local police say no charges will be filed against a young man you sent Scarborough High School into a brief lockdown last week when he refused to sign in at the main office.

According to Scarborough Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse, the man was given a criminal trespass notice and advised not to return to the building due to the incident, which occurred May 10. Because he was not arrested or summonsed, his identity will not be released, said Rouse.

“As best we can determine, he was not carrying any weapons.” said Rouse. “Pretty much, everyone available [from the police department] went, because you never know might be happening, but I do not believe he was a physical threat.

“I know him, and I think maybe he may be having some mental health issues,” said Rouse. “I don’t want to characterize it as depression or anything. I think he just might have been a little ‘confused’ more than anything else.”

Police Chief Robert Moulton said the possibility of a mental health problem is an additional reason for not releasing the name of the 20-year-old man, given medical privacy laws.

Despite other media reports claiming the man was located and removed from the school, Moulton said he was gone by the time police arrived. He was later located at a residence “about three or four miles” from the school, where he was issued the criminal trespass notice, Moulton said.

“Naturally, we can’t know with 100 percent certainly that he did not have a weapon while he was at the school, but there’s really no indication that was the case,” said Moulton.

According to Principal Dean Auriemma, the former student entered the high school foyer at about 8:40 a.m. and “asked to see specific teachers.”

“The individual refused to identify himself and when asked to sit and wait told the receptionist that he was going to do whatever he wanted, then entered the building,” wrote Auriemma, in an email message sent to parents shortly after the incident.

“Our receptionist immediately notified the administration via our two-way radio system,” recounted Auriemma. “Because we could not visually locate the student and we were three minutes from the passing period before our 10-minute break, we immediately called 911 and asked all teachers to secure their students in their rooms with the doors locked.

“While the students were never in any danger, we felt this individual and his actions posed a possible threat during the passing period,” explained Auriemma, adding that the “regular protocol” for this type of incident went as expected and “we were back to normal operating procedure in under five minutes.”

According to Auriemma, a police presence was maintained at the school for the balance of the day. The intruder has been placed on the school district’s “alert list.”

“We will call 911 at any time that we see this individual on campus, in the parking lot, etc.,” wrote Auriemma. “While there is never an intention to cause concern or fear among students, families and staff, unfortunately we live in a society where schools have to be prepared for such incidents.”

“Certainly, there’s a need to be vigilant in today’s world, which they [at the school] were,” said Moulton. “The school staff did exactly what they should have done to protect the kids and they should be commended.”