Reports of gun at Enochs High dance lead to two arrests — on other charges
The investigation into a report of a teen with a gun on campus during the Enochs High School winter homecoming dance Saturday night resulted in two arrests, Modesto police said. But the arrests weren’t on campus or on weapons charges.
Shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, several police vehicles — most of the patrol officers on duty, Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Sharon Bear said — were dispatched to Enochs. So were ambulances and firetrucks. The response came after calls were made to emergency dispatchers that a teenager with a gun may have been on campus while hundreds of students were in the gym. The students were kept inside the gym with police officers while other officers searched the campus.
“This was a high-profile case due to a large amount of students gathered for the dance and a possible person with a gun,” Bear said. In their favor, police knew they were looking for a specific person — former Enochs student Jacob Creamer, 18.
A member of a family that had a gun stolen from a safe believed a teen (Creamer) had taken it to the Enochs dance, Sgt. Brian Kleiber said Saturday night. “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,” the sergeant said.
A witness who thought he saw Creamer at the dance informed his parents, who in turn informed Enochs administrators, Bear said.
“What we had was just some conflicting information about whether or not that student was here,” Kleiber said. “It appears at this time that the student was never here. There was never a threat to the students.”
Using prior addresses associated with Creamer, officers found him, Bear said. They also found stolen property in his vehicle, and a gun was not among the items recovered, she said. Creamer was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property, as was a woman with him, 19-year-old Serena Chew. Neither appeared in the online Stanislaus County Jail custody log Sunday afternoon.
At 10:48 Saturday night, Enochs Principal Amanda Moore posted on the school’s Facebook page a summary of the incident. The dance was cut short and students were safe, she assured. Several parents who commented on the post asked why they hadn’t received a call from the school. Enochs (Moore presumably) posted this reply: “The above message was intended to be sent as a dialer/text message. Our dialer system was prohibiting us from sending the message. This will be looked into and rectified ASAP. Thank you everyone for your support this evening.”
On parent commented that it was terrifying to show up to pick up her child and see all the police there, and several praised the school and police for their quick response to the perceived threat.
Bear said every police response is very “fact-specific.” When on Jan. 16 police got reports that a student was carrying a gun in his backpack at Beyer High, fewer units may have responded than were sent to Enochs because “we didn’t need a big search crew,” she said. Information received by Beyer administrators already had narrowed the suspects to two twin brothers, who were arrested.
“We feel our response for both incidents was appropriate given the information we had,” Bear said. She said the Police Department “aggressively collaborates” with Modesto City Schools to provide a safe environment for students and district employees. That includes having a committee that assesses student safety and prepares for large-scale incidents, she said.
