PARKER, Colo.-
A high school south of Denver was evacuated Friday and a student was taken into custody after a small explosion outside the building, but no injuries or damage were reported, authorities said.
A middle school in Lamar, about 160 miles southeast of Denver, was evacuated after a handwritten threat to blow up the school was discovered, and a Denver middle school was placed on lockdown after a report that a student was carrying a gun.
Friday was the eighth anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings that left 13 people and two gunmen dead, but it was not immediately known if the three new events were related to that.
The explosion at Ponderosa High School in Parker, about 15 miles southeast of Denver, was reported at 9 a.m.
Authorities said they were holding a junior for questioning. They said the student had chemicals in a backpack that “could have been mixed to create another small sound-making device,” school and sheriff’s officials said in a written release.
The release did not elaborate, and officials did not immediately return a call.
Authorities have not said what caused the explosion.
Classes were canceled for the day. Students were taken to a nearby church to await their parents or buses to take them home.
The school has 1,958 students, according to state figures.
At Lamar Middle School, a staff member found a note on the floor that said the school would be blown up Friday, Lamar School District Superintendent Wayne Graybeal said.
“Given the historical significance of the date and the thing that happened at Ponderosa, we had to take it seriously,” he said.
The note was found around 11:15 a.m., he said. Classes were canceled and parents were notified to pick up their children.
The school has about 250 students, but only about 150 attended Friday because of an out-of-town track meet, Graybeal said.
Denver’s Morey Middle School near the Capitol was placed on lockdown after students told the principal another student may have been carrying a gun, police Detective Virginia Quinones said.
A boy was arrested at a nearby park, but Quinones said it was unclear whether he was carrying a gun. No weapons were seen in the school, she said.
