The Clark County Sheriff’s Office appears unlikely to recommend charges after it was reported last week that someone fired a gun into the ground at Heritage High School.
The Orchards-area high school, located at 7825 N.E. 130th Ave., went on a modified lockdown for about an hour Friday after students reported to the campus’s school resource officer that someone had possibly fired a shot near the school’s softball fields, Sgt. Brent Waddell said.
But after a subsequent investigation and interviews with the individual alleged to have fired the weapon — a minor the sheriff’s office is not identifying — it’s unclear whether the boy fired a gun or had a weapon at all.
Law enforcement originally reported the boy had discharged a firearm into the ground near campus, but Waddell said the boy denies it, and investigators have not found a gun or other physical evidence that he shot a gun.
“We take it seriously, but we still need to fit the investigative pieces in,” Waddell said. “We can’t jump to conclusions.”
The case also highlights shifts in policing in the aftermath of repeated school shootings around the country. Within minutes after the report, deputies on the police radio had identified the name of the alleged suspect, noted specific details of his social media activity and shared his profile picture with each other.
In a perfect world, that wouldn’t happen, Waddell said.
“But in these ever-changing, volatile, rapidly unfolding situations, sometimes you have to say (this kid) was the shooter,” he said.
Law enforcement can also review suspects’ public social media presence to identify possible red flags like recent threatening posts or, on the flip side, recent posts indicating the individual may not be in the area at all.
“That’s one of the lessons law enforcement has learned on many different levels,” he said.
Waddell did not confirm whether the boy was a student at the school. Evergreen Public Schools referred a request to the sheriff’s office, declining to provide more information.
