Melrose High Lockdown: Student Charged, Officer Injured

MELROSE, MA — A 16-year-old injured a police officer after the high school went into lockdown and the middle school a shelter in place following a report that the student may have had made threats and had a gun, Melrose Police said Friday afternoon.

The officer was injured when police arrested what they said was an "aggressive" student. He was treated for a leg injury and released from Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. Subscribe to Melrose Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

The student was arraigned at Cambridge Juvenile Court on charges of disrupting a school assembly and assault and battery on a police officer.

Police said school administrators at approximately 9:30 a.m. placed the high school into lockdown mode and the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School under a shelter in place order following a report from a parent that a student may have had a firearm and possibly made threats.

The School Resource Officer and administrators detained the student in his classroom and searched him and his backpack, finding no weapon.

Police said the student "became agitated" and left the building after speaking to officers. Officers pursued the student, who allegedly refused to listen to instructions. Police went to arrest the student, which was when an officer got injured.

A Twitter user posted a video of what appeared to be police swarming someone outside the school, but the video has since been removed. Patch is not using the video here as the person who posted the video did not respond to requests to use it before removal.

The lockdown was lifted at 9:45 a.m. and classes resumed.

"I want to stress that there was never any danger to the community during this incident," Police Chief Michael Lyle said. "I commend faculty, staff, administrators, students and officers for their work today and know that our community shares its thoughts and well wishes for our injured officer as he recovers."

Ben McNeely, a junior at the high school, described the frightening ordeal to Patch.

"Everyone hid in the corner of my class with the lights off and the door locked," he said.

Photo by Mike Carraggi