Coral Shores intruder scare a false alarm
But Sheriff’s Office pleased with response
BY TERRY SCHMIDA
An armed intruder alert at Coral Shores High School early Monday ended when deputies from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office failed to turn up any sign of a suspect.
But the incident, taking place amidst the backdrop of a nation jittery about terrorism, may have offered police and school staff a useful dry-run for such a scenario.
“We are, of course, relieved that this turned out to be a false alarm but it is important we all treat any report seriously,” Sheriff Rick Ramsay wrote in a press release issued late Monday morning. “The safety of children in our schools and our community remains the highest priority to all of us here at the Sheriff’s Office.”
The stir at the Tavernier high school began a little before 8 a.m., when the MCSO received a report of a possible armed individual being spotted in the vicinity of the school’s media room.
The School Resource Officer, who answers to the sheriff’s office, worked with school administrators to lock down students and teachers, before beginning a thorough search of the facility, with the aid of other sheriff’s deputies.
By 10 a.m., Coral Shores was given the all-clear, and parents were advised that the school would remain open for the remainder of the academic day – though they were free to pick up their children early, if they wished.
“They checked the school and didn’t find any suspects or any evidence that there were any suspects,” sheriff’s office spokeswoman Becky Herrin said Monday evening. “The presumption is that the report wasn’t accurate. Perhaps somebody thought they saw something they didn’t. We’ll be reviewing to see what we did right and if there’s anything we could do differently, and I think the School District is doing the same. It was a tense situation for a little while, given the size of that school. But the training we’ve been doing over the past few years on just this kind of scenario has paid off. Overall it went very well.”
Monroe County School District Superintendent of Schools Mark Porter echoed Herrin’s view.
“We’re all greatly relieved that this turned out to be a non-event, so to speak, with no presence of an intruder,” Porter said. “We felt very fortunate that we had recently undergone a trial run with the MCSO.
“We do feel that there are some areas we could improve upon, as far as anticipating this type of scenario,” Porter added. “Particularly where social media goes. We’ve been struggling somewhat with that, so that we can communicate better with students and parents. However, I would like to express gratitude to the MCSO, and the leadership team at Coral Shores, for their response to a situation that we hope were will never have to actually confront.”
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