OAKFIELD, Maine — A local high school was put on lockdown for more than an hour Friday after a 16-year-old Oakfield girl allegedly assaulted a family member and threatened to kill a teacher.
An individual called 9-1-1 just after 10 a.m. and reported that the girl was “out of control,” had assaulted a family member at a residence on Thompson Settlement Road and then tried to steal a car, according to Sheriff Darrell Crandall of the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office.
Crandall said a deputy sheriff arrived just five minutes later, but the girl, whose name was not released because she is a juvenile, had already fled the scene on foot. The deputy was told that the juvenile was in possession of a knife and had threatened to kill a teacher.
“Given the nature of the threat, deputy sheriffs immediately notified Southern Aroostook Community School a short distance away in Dyer Brook, and the school instituted their lock-down procedures,” the sheriff said.
As a precaution, two deputies also were sent to keep an eye on the school until the girl was taken into custody.
A Maine State Police trooper and police dog followed the girl’s scent into a wooded area, eventually looping back toward the residence where she was found hiding next to a shed, Crandall said.
The teen briefly tried to flee and resisted arrest before being taken into custody, he said.
Deputies later recovered a knife a short distance from where the girl was apprehended, he said.
The sheriff could not say what specifically sparked the incident, but he said it was part of a pattern of “bad behavior that had been escalating throughout the week.”
In addition, as she was being taken to the Aroostook County Jail in Houlton, the girl assaulted three corrections officers, Crandall said. The officers were not injured, he added.
The teen has since been transferred to a state facility for juvenile offenders.
The juvenile has been charged with terrorizing, assault on an officer and refusing to submit to arrest.
The investigation is continuing, Crandall said, and additional charges are likely.
