Reports of shots fired prompt lockdown

State and county law enforcement officers responded to reports of shots fired Monday morning at Pojoaque Valley High School.

When deputies arrived at the school, however, initial investigations could not substantiate the reports, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said.

“We did get information that there was possible shots fired. When we got up there, we couldn’t confirm that that happened — that that actually happened,” Mendoza said.

Early Monday morning, Pojoaque Valley High officials received a report of a sound near the high school’s parking lot, Superintendent Sondra Adams said in an interview. Someone reported the sound was gunshots.

The high school, which serves about 600 students in northern Santa Fe County, went into lockdown around 7:30 a.m.

“We locked down as a precautionary measure, just to make sure [everyone] was OK,” Adams said.

At that time, students from Pablo Roybal Elementary School and Pojoaque Intermediate School — both of which share a campus with the district’s high school — had not yet started for the day. Buses en route to the elementary schools were redirected to the district’s middle school, which holds classes at another campus a few miles away.

Santa Fe County sheriff ’s deputies and New Mexico State Police officers arrived at the scene and secured the campus, but initial investigations could not corroborate claims of shots being fired at the school, Mendoza said.

“We have found no evidence of any gun on the campus. We can’t even verify that there were gunshots at this time,” Adams added.

The lockdown was lifted around 9 a.m., and the school transitioned to a brief shelter-in-place period. Adams said that’s typical at Pojoaque Valley Schools, with the shelter-in-place helping “ramp it down” from lockdown mode.

By 11 a.m., the high school had returned to its usual schedule and security status.

The district’s students were expected to finish out the school day normally, Adams said, following a successful response to the potential emergency.

“Students locked down. Teachers locked down. They did what they were supposed to, and everybody’s safe,” she said.