News

Actions

Mountain Vista murder plot: Kids return to class

Posted at 9:20 PM, Dec 16, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-17 04:12:25-05

Students at Douglas County’s Mountain Vista High School returned to classes Wednesday to continue finals testing, but with the threat of a school attack looming in their minds.

Over the weekend, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office learned of a school attack plot by two teenage girls who are students at Mountain Vista. According to officials from the Sheriff’s Office, both teens are in police custody.

Douglas County district superintendent Elizabeth Celania-Fagan said the school's district-wide safety plan and their partnership with law enforcement was the strongest response she has ever experienced in her career in education.

“The fact that we are a county-wide school district is a real benefit, because we know our jurisdictions and they have literally the same boundaries that we have, so we can all really collaborate well... we know each other well,” said Celania-Fagan.

Celania-Fagan added the tip to law enforcement came in over the text-a-tip line, and said that the ability to express gratitude to the student who sent in that tip is an understatement.

"They made a huge difference in the lives of a lot of people, a very positive difference in the lives of a lot of people,” said Celania-Fagan.

Anna Pons has a daughter at the school and said she did not sleep much last night knowing that her daughter’s school was the subject of a credible school threat. Pons said her daughter's knowledge of what to do if a situation like this ever came up helped put her at ease.

“My daughter said she knew exactly what do to if something were to happen -- not that that would make me un-nervous, but she seemed to be fine with everything that they knew and that they would be right on top of it,” said Pons. “The district and parents and the police department, we all work together and we have meetings at the high school and at the school I’m at and [we do] drills all the time.”

---------

Sign up for Denver7 email alerts to stay informed about breaking news and daily headlines.

Or, keep up-to-date by following Denver7 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.