Students alleged to have been targeted

April 22, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - An entourage of Palmer Police and Alaska State Troopers stood guard around Palmer High School Wednesday morning after receiving an anonymous tip that a student had plans to bring a gun to school to shoot fellow students.

The phone call, which came Monday evening, stated that a 17-year-old Palmer High School student made verbal threats to carry out a school shooting. Police received the warning via the Mat-Su Borough School District's toll-free Safe Schools program, and contacted school principal Wolfgang Winter at his home late Monday night.

Police arrested a suspect Tuesday evening at his home in the Butte area and charged him with third-degree assault - a felony - and terroristic threatening.

After consultation this week with the Palmer district attorney's office, however, juvenile authorities opted to charge the suspect with a less serious offense that is not considered disclosable under Alaska law. In this state, the name of a youth who is at least 13 years old and charged with a felony crime against a person may be disclosed to the public.

"The [third-degree assault and terroristic threatening charges] were referred over by police, but it doesn't necessarily mean we're going to charge those offenses," said Sean Owens, district supervisor for the juvenile probation office in Palmer, on Thursday.

Owens said the suspect is being held at Mat-Su Youth Facility in Palmer. Owens refused to give information about the identity of the person in custody, whom Palmer High School students identified as Shay Hall.

Police interviewed students, including Hall, at the school Tuesday. According to police reports, numerous students said they overheard Hall say he planned a shooting. Others said Hall told them directly that he was going to shoot them.

Palmer Police Chief George R. Boatright said officers were at the school throughout the day Wednesday to provide heightened security.

"They were there to keep an eye out for anything unusual or out of place," he said.

Police patrolled the school at the start of the day, during lunch and when students were released at the end of the day. According to Palmer Police Sgt. Thomas Remaley, officers will continue regular patrols through the end of the week.

Remaley reported no problems Wednesday but did say officers talked to many concerned parents and the investigation is ongoing.

"Everything was fine," he said. "But a lot of parents came up to ask if it was safe to come to school."

Winter said more than 200 students were absent from school Wednesday as concerned students and parents opted to stay away.

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.