No arrests after gun report prompts lockdown, early dismissal at Montgomery High

Months after a fatal student fight on its campus set off a countywide conversation about school safety, Montgomery High School students were sent home early Friday following an hourslong lockdown set in motion after a student reportedly was seen with a handgun.

Police located no firearm, but officers conducting a search found a knife wrapped in a T-shirt hidden in a classroom at the Santa Rosa high school, and several students were detained for questioning, said Lt. Christopher Mahurin, a spokesperson for the Santa Rosa Police Department.

No students were arrested, Mahurin said late Friday afternoon.

The lockdown came about 2-1/2 months after 16-year-old student Jayden Pienta was stabbed to death in an altercation with another student in a Montgomery High classroom, spurring countywide student protests demanding improved school safety.

Against that backdrop, Friday’s events were “obviously a jolt for us today,” Santa Rosa City Schools Superintendent Anna Trunnell said.

Mahurin and interim Montgomery Principal Laurie Fong said the day’s events were unfortunately muddled by the fact that several students on campus had squirt guns and were squirting each other as part of a social media craze, “Senior Assassin Day.”

“It was a complicating factor,” Fong said.

Trunnell praised staff and students for their actions and composure during the lockdown.

“All of our safety protocols were followed and we worked collaboratively with law enforcement today and took all necessary measures to ensure that we were diligent and vigilant to keep and maintain campus safety,” Trunnell said.

Following Pienta’s killing, the district was criticized for poor communication and for not more effectively ensuring student safety on campus. Montgomery principal Adam Paulson was placed on administrative leave and the district later said he would not be returning to the school.

Fong, a former Montgomery principal, took Paulson’s place in the short term.

Friday’s lockdown lasted several hours, from just before 11 a.m. until students were sent home for the day at 1 p.m., Santa Rosa City Schools District spokesperson Vanessa Wedderburn said.

The first alarm was raised by a student around 10:45 a.m. when they said they witnessed another student with a handgun being “shown off” to students, Mahurin said.

Officers arrived about three minutes later and several students ran.

A Santa Rosa police officer who has been stationed at the school since the fatal stabbing in March and responding officers isolated potential suspects to three portable classrooms on the north side of the campus.

The officer stationed on campus, Luigi Valencia, will lead the investigation into Friday’s events, Mahurin said.

Valencia was assigned to the school in the week that students returned after the March stabbing. His was initially intended to be a short term assignment, but Fong said that consultations with students and staff led her to request that he stay on until the end of the school year.

"When we were looking for students possibly with the weapon, he was right there. So he was somebody they knew,“ Fong said. ”They felt more comfortable seeing Officer Valencia right there with the other officers. I think that helped with anxiety or nervousness for kids.“

Mahurin said officers searched several classrooms and larger congregating rooms, such as the gym, but found no firearm. Police are now trying to identify the knife's owner.

While no gun was found, police are working to determine if the one seen was real or a replica, he said.

Three or four students were detained for questioning believed to be associated with the person matching the description of the student seen with what appeared to be a gun in their waistband.

Fong sent a message to parents through ParentSquare shortly after the lockdown began that said a student reported to have a gun ran into classroom 72, which was filled with some students and teachers.

At about 11:30 a.m., police were searching students’ bags in that classroom, Mahurin said.

According to a campus map, classroom 72 is located on the west side of campus near the staff parking lot and dance studio.

Friday afternoon, Trunnell sent out a districtwide message saying, “As I write this message to you, our school community, I am overcome with relief knowing that all students and staff are safe.”

The message also said: “Only a couple of months ago, the MHS family and our school community experienced the tragic loss of a young life, which made today’s event all the more stressful, and sad. Once again, we were jolted to our core. Though today’s event concluded without physical incident, it no doubt resurfaced fears, worry, and sadness as we remember the day a young life was taken.”

Counseling teams will be available on Monday at the school for students, staff and families who want to talk to, she said.

Trunnell said that initially she had believed that police investigators had concluded that a water pistol had been mistaken for a genuine firearm.

Still, she said, “We don’t have any reasons to believe there is anything of dangerous nature on campus right now, so nothing changes.”

No other schools in the area went into lockdown, Wedderburn said.

The student suspected of killing Pienta, Daniel Pulido, 15, has been in juvenile detention since March 1. He is charged with voluntary manslaughter with an enhancement of using a deadly and dangerous weapon and one felony count of unlawfully bringing and possessing a weapon on school grounds.

Pulido last appeared in Sonoma County Juvenile Court on May 4. He was scheduled to enter a plea, but the matter was pushed back to June 15.

Anyone with information can leave it through www.srcity.org/crimetips or by calling 707-528-5222

Staff Writer Jeremy Hay contributed to this report.

You can reach Staff Writer Alana Minkler at 707-526-8531 or alana.minkler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @alana_minkler.