Police investigation diverts buses from Palmer High School

PALMER — Buses were diverted from Palmer High School after a passerby reported hearing two gunshots in the area.

“Somebody driving by the school thought they heard a gunshot, thought they saw a person walking on the sidewalk stick something in their pants and then they call 911 and report someone is walking towards the school with a gun,” said Palmer Police Chief Tom Remaley. “Then when they get over by Hemmer Road they hear what they think is another gunshot and they call 911 again.”

Remaley said that officers responded en masse. The whole thing started as buses were arriving at the school. Mat-Su Borough School District Spokeswoman Catherine Esary said that the buses were diverted to the nearby parking lot at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

By 8 a.m. there were still half a dozen patrol cars both at the school and at the intersection of Hemmer Road and Palmer-Wasilla Highway. Alaska State Troopers at the intersection were picking up flashing lights that had been placed in the road like one would use a road flare. Remaley said police and troopers combed the area looking for somebody matching the suspect’s description.

“They gave a really good description of the person walking on the sidewalk and we haven’t found anybody with that description,” the chief said.

He said the initial caller didn’t see anyone fire a gun or brandish one but did hear what the person thought were shots. Police have since interviewed that person face-to-face.

“It may have occurred but it doesn’t sound like that’s what’s occurred,” he said of the gunshots.

Remaley seemed to be firmly in the mode of tamping down rumors, which were flying on Facebook and through the community this morning.

“They thought they heard a gunshot and they may have, I don’t know, but nobody walked in the school and started shooting up the place,” he said.

Esary seemed to also be in rumor-control mode. She said that rumors that the incident involved a student were not true. She added that, as of just after 8 a.m., everyone at the school is safe and it is not on lock down.

Remaley said police took a better-safe-than-sorry approach to the incident, as they do with anything of this nature.

"Absolutely. We’d always respond to any kind of a threat with a gun anywhere," the chief said.