Alamogordo schools are locked down; 12-year-old arrested for making threats

Alamogordo Police Department detectives arrested a 12-year-old boy after he made threatening phone calls to four separate schools within Alamogordo Public Schools District Thursday morning, an APD spokesman said.

Capt. Roger Schoolcraft said the boy is charged with 17 counts of petty misdemeanor interference with staff, public officials or the general public because about 17 schools were locked down due to the threats.

Schoolcraft said the boy called the four different schools making threats that he was going to shoot up the schools.

According to an APS press release, Chaparral and Mountain View middle schools, and Heights and Yucca elementary schools recieved the threatening phone calls.

The boy is being detained pending his appearance in 12th Judicial District Children’s Court.

Schoolcraft said Alamogordo Public Schools contacted APD regarding threatening telephone calls made to the four separate APS schools between 9 a.m. and 9:23 a.m. The shelter in place was lifted around 10:45 a.m.

APS officials placed all the public schools in a shelter in place capacity while APS notified numerous private schools of the threatening telephone calls, Schoolcraft said.

He said the private schools as well as Cloudcroft and Tularosa schools were all placed in a shelter in place capacity after being notified of the threatening phone calls.

Schoolcraft said APD detectives learned from Chaparral Middle School administrators that two male students who may have left the campus may be involved in the threatening telephone calls.

APD detectives learned through investigation that the boys were at a residence in the 1200 block of Hawaii Avenue, he said.

Schoolcraft said detectives learned through investigation that a 12-year-old was responsible for making the threatening calls to the schools the arrested the boy.

He said APD as well as all law enforcement agencies take these types of incidents very seriously.

“These days it’s serious,” Schoolcraft said. “We will file all appropriate charges against anyone responsible for this type of threat to the public-school system. We had to exhaust a lot of resources on it. We had assistance from the Otero County Sheriff’s Office, New Mexico State Police and New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.”

He said all the law enforcement agencies were conducting security patrols at numerous schools within the district and county.

“They not only assisted with patrolling the schools but assisted with shelter in place,” Schoolcraft said. “We setup an incident command at the Alamogordo Public Schools offices while we coordinated shelter in place while making sure to safe guard all of our children. We also put out notifications to all the parents.”

According to an APS press release, school officials take the safety of their students very seriously.

At no time were students in any danger, the release states.