San Juan Island School District practiced lockdown procedures on Monday, Dec. 9 and Tuesday, Dec. 10 due to a threat investigation. An update on the district’s Facebook page said a social media post threatening the secondary school triggered the emergency response.

“We’ve looked into it and it was not a credible threat,” San Juan County Sheriff Ron Krebs told the Journal. “It had nothing to really do with the school itself.”

The school district posted an update on Dec. 11 that the student had been arrested. Krebs told the Journal the student’s arrest was unrelated to the events that happened with the school earlier in the week.

Krebs released the following statement on the afternoon of Dec. 9:

“On Sunday afternoon [Dec. 8] the Sheriff’s Office received a report that a high school student was going to come ‘shoot up’ the school in Friday Harbor. The juvenile was believed to be off-island, but possibly coming back Sunday night to collect his stuff and then leave the island to move to Arizona. A comprehensive search was conducted Sunday night without success. After speaking with his parents and friends, we believed that he was in fact not on the island. After monitoring the offloading of the ferries, we also determined the subject also did not come off the ferries.

On Monday the Sheriff’s Office placed a deputy at the school and responded to reports the suspect had returned to the island. Again, after monitoring the offloading of the ferries, speaking with his family, and speaking with the subject on the phone, we still strongly believe he is not on the island and are making every effort to confirm that.

While talking with him on the phone, he adamantly denies having made a threat against the school, its students, or staff. We ask that he come into the Sheriff’s Office and talk with us so that we can determine how this threat got started. Until such time, we will continue to be vigilant in both community and school safety.”