Student arrested after threatening SRO with knife, police say

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — A 16-year-old student at Governor Thomas Johnson High School faces charges as an adult after reportedly threatening a school resource officer with a knife on Wednesday.

At 9:05 a.m., two SROs were in the school hallway, while classes were changing, when they noticed a fight start to break out between two groups of students. Both officers immediately got involved and stood between the two main parties in order to de-escalate the situation.

One SRO began escorting a student out of the area while the other SRO was attempting to calm the other student down and do the same.

Investigators say the second student began resisting the SRO's efforts to keep students separated and began to physically push and try to get away from the officer.

This is when the SRO took out but did not use his taser.

The student then began walking away from the area, while the SRO and school staff continued to attempt to de-escalate the student. 

Police say this is when that student, the SRO, and a school administrator entered an office together on campus.

While inside the office, detectives claim the student pulled out a folding knife, opened the knife, and held it in an aggressive manner at the SRO while making threats.

For the second time, the SRO again took out but did not use his taser while giving the student commands to drop the knife. 

The student eventually dropped the knife and the SRO attempted to arrest the student. This is when officers claim the student physically resisted arrest prior to deputies ultimately taking them into custody.

The student was taken to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office for questions and charged with the following:

Due to the nature of the crime, the student will be charged as an adult. The student has been taken to the Adult Detention Center, where he faces charges. 

“This incident at Governor Thomas Johnson High School is not how we, or our partners at Frederick County Public Schools, wanted the school year to start,” said Lt. Brian Woodward, FCSO SRO commander. “However, this one incident is not a reflection of the entire Gov. Thomas Johnson High School community.”