Extra police on duty at Rossford junior and senior high schools after unsubstantiated reports of gunman

12/21/2012

Unsubstantiated reports that a gunman could be at Rossford schools today prompted local police to station officers around the junior and senior high schools.

Rossford Police Chief Glenn B. Goss, Sr., said joint police and school investigations “revealed the information was not factual,” but he decided to keep officers from the midnight shift on overtime to set a perimeter around the campus to start the school day. The move was both for security and to ease community concerns, he said.

"Several school districts are dealing with similar matters in their respective jurisdictions, and Rossford is no different," Chief Goss said in a news release. "We have had and continue to have excellent communications with the school district both on a daily basis and during school safety committee meetings."

He said parents and students began calling school officials Thursday after seeing or hearing of a Facebook message that talked about a possible fight, gang war, knives, and guns. The message apparently was related to another school district.

Although Rossford has had no problems, Chief Goss said police were called to the junior high Tuesday on a gun report. It turned out two students were exchanging an AirSoft gun that was later found in one of the student’s lockers.

At Perrysburg High School a police cruiser was in the parking lot as students arrived early this morning in response to social media chatter of a gun threat.