Police, parents turn out after report of gun at Modesto school dance; no threat found

Modesto Police responded with a heavy presence at Enochs High School in east Modesto on Saturday night after receiving reports that a teenager with a gun was on campus while hundreds of students inside the gym were attending the Winter Formal dance.

The report proved to be unfounded, police said.

MPD received the call about 8:50 p.m., according to Sgt. Brian Kleiber. The students were kept inside the gym with police officers while other officers searched the campus. Several police cars along with fire crews and ambulances were dispatched to the scene.

A member of a family who had a gun stolen from their gun safe believed a teenager had taken it to the Enochs dance, Kleiber said. Police secured the campus and determined there was no threat.

“A family had a gun safe stolen with one firearm inside a few days ago in a different city ... the teenager who was part of that family believes that a student may have stolen a gun, although he’s not sure of that,” Kleiber said. “What we had was just some conflicting information about whether or not that student was here. It appears at this time that the student was never here. There was never a threat to the students.”

Still, the report sent a multitude of officers to the school. “...based on the fact that we potentially might have had a student here with a firearm, we had multiple officers respond to the scene,” Kleiber said. “We cleared the campus, confirmed there was no threat. … At this time, there is no threat and it looks like there never was a threat.”

As police worked, anxious parents who either received calls from their children from inside the gym or saw the many flashing emergency vehicle lights showed up to the campus parking lot. A visibly shaken Sarena Havens — whose 16-year-old daughter was at the dance — arrived after a call from her sister, who had seen the police presence at the campus. “I called her (her daughter) immediately. They’re safe in there,” Havens said. Still, “I rushed down here.”

Vice Principal Tom Nipper came out to address the parents, assuring that their children were safe, with staff and Modesto Police inside the gym with them. An officer also told the parents their children were safe, that no one had seen a gun and they were there as a precaution, sweeping the school and keeping the students inside the gym out of an abundance of safety.

Around 10 p.m. a school official came out and told the parents they could go in and gather their students who had been released from the gym.

This story was originally published January 26, 2019 at 11:40 PM.