Gun Threat Prompts Bristow Middle School Lockdown in Brentwood

Late Thursday, the Brentwood Union School District issued an update from another lock-down at Bristow Middle School for safety reasons.

According to Bristow Principal Anna Perales, they received a report of a threat of a gun on campus. This prompted the school resource officer to request a lock-down. This was determined to be not credible.

However, according to two sources, dozens of kids ran from the campus into a nearby neighborhood after hearing the rumor of a firearm on campus. It also prompted more than 50 parents to head to the school to attempt to pull students from the campus.

Superintendent Dana Eaton stated the “tip” came in when law enforcement agencies were already on campus and the student in question had already gone home for the day with a parent.  Eaton said the investigation is ongoing regarding a threat on campus from a text chain but offered no other details in an effort not to compromise the investigation by the Brentwood Police Department.

According to sources, the original threat was directed at several teachers at the school. Eaton would not confirm that occurred, but did say multiple people were threatened in the message thread.

Here is the letter that went out Thursday night:

Bristow Families,

I wanted to take a few minutes and follow up on the communications I have shared with you over the past few days.  It is always our intent to communicate with families as soon as possible after we have ensured that students are safe.  I understand that these communications may not contain all of the information about the incident.  However, we are required to keep some information private as it may serve as evidence for an ongoing police and/or discipline investigation.  Releasing that information could undermine ongoing investigations, disciplinary action and/or potential prosecution. Our primary goal in communicating with our families is to let you know that police have determined there is no threat to our school site, your child is safe and we are focused on making sure that everyone involved is held accountable.

We had multiple law enforcement agencies on campus today helping us continue our investigation into the threats from Tuesday, November 7, 2023. Throughout the day, we continued to receive information about alleged threats to the school.  We immediately worked with law enforcement to follow up on each threat to ensure that our students and school were safe. We will continue to investigate and will be holding each student accountable to the fullest extent possible. Regardless if a student thinks they are “joking”, we take every post and comment seriously when it comes to the safety of our school community.

As the day continued we received a threat of a gun on campus, which was immediately shared with law enforcement and Brentwood PD advised that we go into a lockout. A lockout is when all doors are immediately locked, students are ushered into the nearest classroom (if they are out) and then teaching can continue. This is meant to restrict movement while law enforcement was able to determine if this threat was credible. Once we were able to determine there was no threat to student or staff safety, I lifted the lockout and students were able to leave classrooms. This was also when I sent our BMS community the message today via email and text message informing our community of the lockout.

Students, staff and families are clearly shaken by the events that have taken place over the past three days.  While the majority of the issues have happened online and off campus, they have had a significant impact on campus.  We are committed to a safe environment and I want to assure you that anyone involved in writing or adding to a threatening message will be held accountable and face severe consequences.  Please share with your children the real world consequences of making threats online and encourage them to continue to come forward anytime they hear or see something.

The safety and security of our students and staff is our highest priority. We will have additional crisis counselors on campus next week as well as a law enforcement presence. We will also be spending time in our classes next week reassuring students and reviewing the protocols and procedures with them that are meant to keep them safe.

Sincerely,

Anna Perales
Principal, Bristow Middle School

Brentwood Police Statement

The Brentwood Police Department received reports of two incidents at Bristow Middle School related to threats of a school shooting. Our community’s safety is of utmost importance to us, and we want to reassure everyone that we take these threats very seriously. We work closely with the Brentwood Union School District and may involve our federal partners to assist with investigations if needed.

We understand that incidents such as these can create anxiety and concern among parents about the safety of their children. We want to assure you that these threats are being thoroughly investigated. In both instances, we were unable to locate any weapons, and there was no evidence of a shooting.

We understand that parents would like more information about the incidents. However, these are ongoing criminal investigations and we are limited in the amount of information we can share with the public. In most cases, the suspects involved in such incidents are juveniles, and we cannot release any information related to them due to the law.

We understand that the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community are of utmost importance, and we want to assure everyone that we are taking all necessary measures to ensure their safety.