By Adam Pagnucco.
According to the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) and MCPS, Magruder High School in Rockville had a violent morning today.
This is MCPD’s official statement on what happened.
*****
The following is a brief summary of events regarding two weapons located inside Magruder High School in the 5900 block of Muncaster Mill Road in Derwood.
On Thursday, September 3, at approximately 8:47 a.m., officers from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Montgomery County Department of Police responded to the location for the report of two separate events where students with weapons were located inside of the school.
The preliminary investigation has revealed that while school security was investigating the initial event of a student with a gun, they discovered a student who was in possession of a knife on campus. The knife was confiscated and all disciplinary action will be handled administratively through Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).
The second student, a 15-year-old male, believed to be in possession of a gun, was identified. During the investigation, the student assaulted an MCPS administrator and MCPS security.
A BB gun, belonging to the 15-year-old was recovered.
The 15-year-old has been charged with first and second-degree assault, possession of a dangerous weapon on school property and disruption of a school day.
The Department of Juvenile Services has authorized detention of the student.
*****
Bethesda Today reported that the school was in a hold status while dealing with the incidents until 10 AM.
Back in 2022, Magruder was the site of a school shooting for which a teenager was sentenced to 18 years in prison. At the time, State’s Attorney John McCarthy said, “This is the first time that we’ve ever had a shooting in a Montgomery County Public School.” Earlier this year, Wootton High School had another school shooting.
Last year, I wrote a seven-part series on staff and student concerns about safety and schools. The issue of restoring school resource officers to schools remains a hot political issue although MCPD may not have the staff capacity to reimplement that program. These new incidents are sure to revive interest in school security as a new county executive and county council as well as three new school board members take office.