Armed Person at Wallingford Playfield

Just saw this pop up on the Wallingford / Fremont Community Facebook page:

I just received a text from that there is an armed person near Wallingford Park. Anyone know anything about this?

and this response:

We were just there for our last day of school gathering. People started shouting about an armed person on the field, so I grabbed my kids and left. Lichton Springs was having a field day. I didn’t see anything, so I can’t confirm. We left quickly.

Several parents confirmed that Hamilton Middle School, which adjoins Wallingford Park is in “shelter in place” at the moment, although one student is quoted as texting “these happen all the time.”

I will update this story when I learn more.

Update (3:09 pm): Kids are being let out of the school.

Update (4:48 pm): I spoke with Jonah Spangenthal-Lee from the Seattle Police Department’s Public Affairs department. He told me that the incident arose when someone reported that threats had been made by a former or suspended student, which led to the “shelter in place”. Nobody with a weapon was sighted and no arrests have been made, but the police are investigating.

Update (5:28 pm): But then Brian followed up and said: “Listening to the police scanner before picking my daughter up at Hamilton, they kept mentioning an address on Sunnyside, which is a block or so from our house. On the way home, we drove by and the police were walking a teen in handcuffs away from the apartment building.” Also, a Hamilton Student added in the comments that he had heard that someone was threatening students with a knife.

So I called Jonah back, and he confirmed that a juvenile was taken custody at another location.

Jonah said that according to his reports, there was no weapon at the school, but the report is a bit confusing, perhaps because the park adjoins the school but isn’t technically a part of it.