Eastmont Placed on Lockdown Not Once but Twice: Report

Eastmont Junior High School was briefly plunged into chaos on Wednesday, the result of abject miscommunication.

The school was placed on lockdown not once, but twice, says Sgt. Ben Fauconnier of East Wenatchee PD. The inciting tiff was reported at 11:35 a.m.

"Initially, there was a student who was just being unruly," Fauconnier says. "The teacher misspoke - he requested a lockdown when he really wanted a hold." That's a different procedure entirely, "but as soon as someone says 'lockdown,' the school goes into lockdown."

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This flare-up was resolved quickly, but not without further incident. At around 1:45, "Some students were making jokes about the first lockdown - about someone potentially having a firearm." The rascally banter was overheard - but misheard - by a classmate: "They didn't have the full context of the joke. They told the teacher they believed someone had a firearm." This prompted a second lockdown.

None of the students involved are likely to face disciplinary action, Fauconnier says, and the school has returned to normal operations.

According to Fauconnier, "We had responses from Wenatchee PD, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. We did what we had to do under the circumstances, so it was a good test for law enforcement." There's a silver lining in everything.