TORRINGTON – A report of a student being disruptive shortly after the start of the school day Friday at Torrington High School led to the youth being segregated from other students and, in a separate incident, another student detained on possible charges of aggravated assault.
Sgt. Matt Davis of the Torrington Police Department said late Friday school officials responded to a report of a disruptive juvenile shortly after 8 a.m. Friday. A female student, who’s age was not immediately available, was removed from class and police were contacted, based on statements the girl allegedly made.
Based on her statements, details emerged of an unrelated incident involving a 15-year-old male student. The names of both students are being withheld due to their age.
“Due to her statements, we wound up with one thing having led to another that we had an aggravated assault from earlier in the week,” Davis said. “We had two separate incidents and the investigation of one led to the other. We detained one juvenile for questioning.”
In the course of the investigation, the boy was found to be in possession of “a couple of pocket knives,” Davis said. It appeared the knives were not tied to the initial complaint, he said, and the school district reportedly has dealt with that aspect of the incident.
The boy was detained with the possibility of charges of aggravated assault. The incident with the girl remained under investigation Friday, with a possible charge of terroristic threat pending, Davis said. She was not detained at the time of the incident, he said.
“This took everyone by surprise,” Davis said. “These – from what I’ve heard from the school – are not things you’d expect from these students.
“Due to the way it unfolded, for whatever reason, it blew up into a now multiple-party thing,” he said. “We work under the assumption they were tied together. But we found out in the investigation, for whatever reason, they’re not.”
The incidents occurred in the wake of yet another mass shooting Wednesday at a school in Florida that left 17 dead and numerous wounded in its wake. Despite that tragedy, Davis said the local incident was dealt with the same as it would have been, had it occurred at any other time.
“None of our responses were modified any” because of the Florida shootings,” he said. “Kids are hearing and seeing things done elsewhere – there can be speculation maybe it was something she saw and emulated? It’s possible.”
