Arcata High School students found two bullets near the school gymnasium, according to communications sent out to AHS staff and parents on October 7, 2024. Neither the identities of the students who discovered the bullets nor the identity of the owner of the bullets have been disclosed.
Ms. Campbell, AHS Assistant Principal, says that she learned of the bullets when they were reported to the office by two students. “They actually did a really good job… that’s what I would hope that anybody would do if they found something like that,” she said.
Ms. Campbell offered some insight into the actions of herself and AHS when the bullets were reported. “The students reported the bullets. I interviewed both students, had them write a witness statement, looked at cameras, talked with anybody else whose name might’ve popped up as knowing about it or who was there and didn’t really get any information. And so I called the [Arcata Police Department] just to report it, and they took the bullets, and, I believe, wrote a police report.”
According to the Lost Coast Outpost, a report of a “suspicious circumstance” was filed by the Arcata Police Department (APD) at Arcata High School on October 7 around 2pm, shortly after the high school sent messages to students are parents notifying them of the incident. APD declined to comment on or release this report.
The bullets raised concerns among some AHS students and staff amid years of lockdowns and threats to school safety at Arcata High School and other local schools. Over the last few years, local high schools including our own have been subject to threats of violence posted on social media and written on walls. According to Education Week, there were 38 school shootings in 2023, and 51 in 2022.
Ms. Campbell said she is not aware of any further investigation of the bullets. “That was the end of it… The police did not seem to think that there was a threat,” she said.
