All schools in the Uintah School District went into lockdown on Tuesday afternoon as Vernal City Police responded to a report of a threat. The district-wide lockdown started at about 1:15pm after a student at Uintah Middle School received a threatening text message from a phone number they did not recognize and showed it to a school administrator. Based on the nature of the threat, Uintah Schools Superintendent Dr. Rick Woodford implemented the district-wide lockdown as a precaution. “Officials were able to quickly identify the individual who sent the text message as a student who attends Vernal Middle School,” reports Uintah School District. “The student was not in school on Tuesday. The district-wide lockdown was lifted at about 1:50 p.m., after police notified the superintendent that the VMS student was in custody.” Vernal PD reports that their investigators were able to obtain evidence showing that the juvenile acted alone and that the case is being sent to the Uintah County Attorney’s Office for charges in juvenile court. “I’m grateful to the Uintah Middle School student who chose to quickly tell someone about the threat they received,” shares Superintendent Woodford. “We encourage all of our students to immediately talk to a trusted adult or use the SafeUT app if they are threatened or know about a threat. It’s the right thing to do, because keeping things like this a secret can have dire consequences.” Vernal PD thanked the Uintah School District for their “swift and appropriate response” that “allowed investigators to focus on quickly identifying and locating the juvenile suspect.” They also extended their appreciation for all the local law enforcement agencies that responded, as well as the Utah Statewide Information & Analysis Center.
