Euless Trinity High student said he was going to blow up school, police say

EULESS, Texas - Several North Texas schools and districts on Thursday either had to go on lockdown or lockout due to threats either to schools or outside of them.

That included an evacuation of Euless Trinity High School, where a student there made what sounded like a verbal threat. As a result, a bomb squad came out to do a full sweep of the campus.

A student overheard the conversation between two students and told the school resource officer.

The school was evacuated, with 2,600 students and staff gathering on the football field.

Euless police said they detained three students involved and questioned them while the building was searched for a potential bomb in a backpack. Police and a bomb squad worked to sweep the campus.

A student told police he was upset at a teacher when he made the comments.

An investigation is underway into the comments, and charges could be filed.

Police revealed more about what the responsible student heard and how they reacted.

"Overheard a conversation this student had made. I don’t want to quote exactly what he said, but something in the nature of that he wanted to blow the school up. A student took that information to a teacher," Euless PD Sgt. Scott Peterson said. "The threat was there was a bomb somewhere in the school in a backpack. We were able to locate the subject that was involved in that threat. He was interviewed by investigators, and they determined the information of the threat was just because he was upset at a teacher."

Like many of her classmates, sophomore Dayna Lama texted her mom, Siosi Lama, about what was happening.

"It was really confusing cause like everybody just got out of the pep rally and was rushing down cause we didn’t know what was happening," she recalled. 

"I texted back, ‘Whatever happened, you have to hide,’" Siosi said.

Several parents rushed to campus to find helicopters in the air and police surrounding the campus. 

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"I think we were freaking out. We didn't know what kind of threat it was. Was there a gunman on campus?" said parent Catherine Zavala.

Parents were texting with their students on the field.

"He said, ‘What’s going on?’ Because I guess they didn’t really let them know. I let them know what’s going on," Zavala recalled. "My niece, she’s in band. She’s a sophomore. This is her first year at Trinity, so it’s even more of a scarier thing."

Police and the bomb squad swept the campus but found no explosives or weapons. Students returned to classes for the afternoon. Some of them were still shaken.

One person was taken away in an ambulance who needed assistance during the evacuation.

"It’s kind of scary," Dayna said. "Sometimes, I have to like make mental notes of where to go in case something happens." 

School Threats Across North Texas

Over in Dallas, there was another threat investigation at South Oak Cliff High School. Dallas police put one person into a squad car after Dallas ISD says officers seized a knife from a student and detained several of them. Police and the district did not release details of the threat but say it came from a parent's tip.

 Schools in Celina, Prosper and Van Alstyne ISDs -also went into lockdown or ‘secure status’ because of threats made on social media.

Craig Miller spent eight years as chief of police for Dallas ISD and says it’s not uncommon to see an uptick in school threats just before a holiday break or long weekend.

"I think a lot of times it’s as simple as they want to get going to that break earlier than they normally would," he said.

The student who made the comment at Trinity High School was arrested. Police say it’s unclear whether or not he’ll face charges.

"I don’t think the kids really understand the impact of making these threats," Miller said. "If you get charged with terroristic threat and then you get convicted with that, it really doesn’t matter what age that was. That’s going to in many instances be a disqualifier for an employer."

Due to threats in Oak Cliff, Dallas ISD will have increased security on Friday at the game in Lancaster.