Gun threat shakes school

October 15, 2006

By Michael Rovito/Frontiersman

BIG LAKE — Another school lockdown Thursday in the Mat-Su Borough brought concerned parents to Big Lake Elementary after a 27-year-old unidentified parent threatened to shoot up the school and claimed to have a sniper.

The suspect, a woman whose child attends Big Lake Elementary, was taken into custody by Alaska State Troopers and has been charged with terroristic threatening. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, according to a troopers report.

Big Lake Elementary Principal Mark Vingoe said the incident began after school officials received a tip that the woman was not supposed to be with the child and may be armed. When the suspect showed up at the school, Vingoe followed her down a hallway as she left, at which time she turned to tell him he did not have to follow her, Vingoe said.

After leaving the school, the suspect wrapped her arms around a passing child who she claimed to know. Vingoe said the child looked very scared, and after he retrieved the student from the suspect’s grip, the woman let loose a tirade of profanity on Vingoe, who called troopers after the woman refused to leave the premises.

“My number-one thing is that the kids are safe,” Vingoe said.

By the time troopers arrived, the suspect had fled the scene only to call Vingoe and make threats to shoot up the school while troopers were in his office. The suspect claimed she had a sniper at the ready and would come to the school with a shotgun, Vingoe said.

The elementary school was locked down from the outside — meaning classes went on as usual without an outdoor recess or physical education classes — and troopers began to search for the suspect.

Officials made a call to the state Office of Child Services, and the suspect’s child was picked up by a representative of the agency.

As school let out Thursday, with the suspect still at large, staff emptied into the parking lot to escort students to waiting buses as a slew of what Vingoe called visibly shaken parents waited to take their children home. Officers from the Houston Police Department also were on hand, which Vingoe said gave everyone at the school a feeling of comfort.

Classes were on a normal schedule Friday after troopers told Vingoe they were familiar with the suspect and were confident the school could open safely.

Vingoe estimated about 100 students out of the school’s 365 did not attend classes Friday, something he said he expected.

Contact Michael Rovito at

352-2252 or michael.rovito@

frontiersman.com.