Threat prompts lockdown at all Bollinger County schools

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- All Bollinger County, Missouri, schools were locked down starting at 12:50 p.m. Thursday because of a shooting threat.

The threat was called into the Bollinger County Library in Marble Hill. The male adult said someone was going to come and shoot up a school but was not specific about which school, said chief deputy Darren Bullard of the Bollinger County Sheriff's Department.

The department is following a strong lead in the case, and Bullard said the call likely was related to the truancy activity of a student, although the caller did not name the student. Officers swept the schools and found nothing of interest, Bullard said. He added the investigation led police to believe the threat was focused on Woodland Schools in Marble Hill.

The Woodland schools building after a lockdown because of a possible threat Thursday in Bollinger County. (Glenn Landberg)

"It is still an open investigation," Bullard said. "This is not going to be a substantiated threat."

Woodland Schools stayed in lockdown until 2:45 p.m., but students were allowed to leave about the normal time, Woodland Schools superintendent Dan Schlief said. The school released a School Reach message to parents Thursday night, explaining the lockdown and assuring them evening activities would continue as planned.

"It was serious business handled in a serious manner by the sheriff's department and administrative team," Schlief said. "I'm very proud of the way our students handled the matter. In the world we live in, I think the students do take it seriously."

With the schools informed of an outside threat, they followed lockdown procedure, which requires students and staff to be contained inside individual classrooms and the halls to be cleared, Schlief said.

Woodland conducts regular lockdown drills, and staffers are trained every year on the lockdown procedure, Schlief said.

Administrative staff told parents looking to pick up students at 2:45 p.m. they intended to release bus-bound students first.

After students left for the day, the administrative staff held a debriefing.

"We felt like we did a good job," Schlief said. "But there's always things you can do better."

Library employee Jeanie Layton said she believes the adult caller called the library accidentally.

She said she was happy one of the other library employees immediately told the police about the call.

"It was kind of scary," Layton said.

"Those things can happen anywhere."

bkleine@semissourian.com

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