The Thursday before a long weekend, students are anxiously waiting for the week to be over. Just as sixth period rolls around, students begin frantically looking at their phones, with dozens of notifications from friends and family about a Washington Post article that was published just before the period started. The article titled: “Teen arrested after threatening to ‘shoot up’ Wootton High School, police say,” began to send students and staff into a panic.
The article dives into former student Alex Ye writing a 129-page manifesto, detailing the main characters’ plans to shoot up a school. While the author claims the book is fiction, the person who turned in the manifesto to the police (known as Witness One), felt that the manifesto contained parts of Ye’s life and that this book was a credible threat to this school, according to the case documents charging Ye.
There have been over 180 false threats in the past year in MCPS, but something about this threat was different. “As I was driving to work yesterday, I was kind of shocked that this would happen to us. You always hear it happening to other schools, but it kind of changes how you think about the situation when it happens to us,” senior Sachin Bijlani said.
As school shootings have become more common, students feel worried, but not necessarily afraid. “The events that occurred on Thursday made me a bit nervous, but I also knew that there was not going to be an actual shooting because threats over the years around this area have been handled by police and kept us out of danger,” freshman Haley Ascienzo said.
Parents in the community felt worried for their children, however, some knew that because the accused was arrested, the situation would be resolved. “After hearing the news, I was not concerned about the safety of students because the particular student was being held. It is challenging to pass judgment without all of the details, but it can be unnerving to learn that seriously dangerous situations are a concern in our community,” an anonymous parent said.
For some students, this event serves as a reminder to remain cautious in public. “As someone who stays relatively caught up with the news and who attends a U.S. public school, I am aware of the potential risks I face every day. This isn’t the first direct threat of gun violence at school I have faced, though it is definitely the most intense. It just serves as a reminder of the importance of gun safety and access to mental health resources for students,” senior Margo Brown said.
This investigation started Mar. 4, involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Rockville City Police, administration and MCPS Safety personnel. After a month-long period of time, Ye was arrested, and the school administration was notified that this former student had written this manifesto and that there was an ongoing investigation. However, school staff and students were not informed about the ongoing situation. An anonymous junior shared their understanding of the delicate nature of the situation. “It didn’t make me feel super safe and I also had no idea what was going on, which made me feel even worse safety-wise. I feel like they could have sent something out sooner but once they did send something out, I thought they did what they could considering there was a lot they weren’t allowed to say regarding everything,” an anonymous junior said.
While students said they felt blindsided by this information, staff did as well, considering an elementary school in the area was notified and then passed the information down to their staff. “Initially, I was very scared and shaken by hearing this. After talking to administration and security though, I did find out that there were things in place that we were not aware of, that were keeping us safe and making sure to prevent an event from occurring. Knowing that there is an active investigation definitely tampers with what we’re allowed to be told as staff, so I do understand that there wasn’t a lot they could tell us, however, after the suspect was arrested and in custody, I wished I would have found out from an administrator before the news, media and social media reported the story,” an anonymous staff member said.
Parents have understood administrators’ views on informing the community of the situation, and the sensitivity of the events. “As far as informing students and families of the situation, I assume that the administration did their best to keep students safe while also following proper procedures and respecting the accused students’ privacy. With that being said, I do also respect that there is some information that cannot be shared with the public,” the anonymous parent said.
Students agree with the necessary precaution when sharing this information with the community, but say they wish it was given sooner. “I am pretty happy with the way the administration handled this, especially by sending out a long email and the announcement made Friday morning. They made it very clear that if we needed to talk to anyone we could, and extra counseling was available. However, I am wondering why no one knew about this before it happened. It’s hard to know if the administration and staff did because they didn’t tell us anything. I know they probably didn’t want to scare us, but I feel like we should’ve been aware of it,” Ascienzo said.
Following the release of the Washington Post article, news outlets began publishing the story nationally. The media began focusing on Ye’s identity, specifically the fact that he is transgender. Jax Kobey, the president of the PRISM club, has noticed a significant change in the school community regarding transphobia. “First, I understand that media outlets will use anything they can to get coverage and that in this day and age, being trans gets attention and views, even though a lot of it is negative. Additionally, it is somewhat reasonable to include that Alex is trans, given that being trans was such a large part of his manifesto. I wish that the coverage included more context. So far, the most holistic article, from my point of view, was from the Washington Post, but I feel that even that failed to contextualize the full picture of what it’s like to be a transgender teenager in 2024,” Kobey said.
This coverage affected this school as well. Kobey said, “My main issue with the media’s portrayal is the effects it has had at Wootton. In the past two days, there has been a drastic rise in homophobic and transphobic comments, which are incredibly frustrating and not good for the mental health of LGBTQ students at Wootton, including myself. Media outlets have an ethical and journalistic responsibility to use people’s preferred names and pronouns, regardless of the reason for their reporting. Another disappointing aspect of this whole ordeal is the villainization of both Alex and trans people in general. A whole group shouldn’t be blamed for the actions of individuals.”
Corroborating Kobey’s view of the focus on the media of Ye being transgender, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich spoke at a press conference held at the MCPS headquarters on Apr. 19. “You never publish anybody’s sexual orientation when you talk about them. Why you focus on them being transgender is beyond me, it is not a news story, and it is not a crime to be transgender,” Elrich said.
Students, staff and parents now have differing opinions on the safety protocols recently put in place. Students say they feel that more security and safety is needed. “I think that there are some safety concerns, just based on the fact that it’s a little easier to get into the school than people think and I think that there can be some extended security measures to help,” senior Malachi Reid said.
Agreeing with Reid, an anonymous junior believes that the school needs to practice what happens when an event occurs. “I think we need increased safety measures especially because there has been a lot going on recently with our school and I feel like there needs to be more practice of what to do when these situations happen,” the anonymous junior said.
While students may believe more safety is needed, some feel that police presence is simply to scare possible intruders. “I feel admin handled the situation with care while still making sure it was not the main topic of discussion. Again, no one got hurt, so the importance of moving forward does not seem insensitive. I feel the current police presence at our school serves more to deter prying eyes, as the threat is no longer a threat,” Brown said.
Teachers say they feel that students and staff need to assist security when helping the school remain a safe place, and following proper procedures is the first step. “I think this was a wake-up call that we aren’t really safe anywhere. My hope is always that we are safe and secure, but I do still feel that there are places where things could be tightened up, such as doors being propped open, and kids letting kids in the building, so I do hope that everyone takes it upon themselves to also help with keeping out school safe, because security alone can’t do everything, we all need to step up and help them. It’s a really unsettling event, I think it’s that this is a fear that a lot of teachers and students have, the one thing I will say is, is that I’m thankful for the processes that were put in place for reporting worked and that they prevented students from getting hurt, thanks to the actions of those prior. Those processes prevented something, and that makes me feel reassured that these procedures work when people do what they are supposed to,” an anonymous teacher said.
Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones spoke at the press conference about maintaining school and student safety, and with an increase in the visibility of police, the hope that crime is stopped increases. “Having a police presence of visibility, that is a matter that usually deters crime, not 100%, but it has proven to be there when you have visibility it does prevent these actions from happening. We want to continue to work with our officers, we are committed to being in those schools as needed, and being visible as required,” Jones said.
Students have raised concerns about the way the situation was handled by police and the charging of the suspect, stating that mental health is of the utmost concern in this situation. “Mental health issues and transphobia both played a role in why he created the manifesto, and I feel that it is important to address these issues instead of ignoring them. The media and people at school have done a great job making Alex seem like a horrible person when in reality, in my interactions with him, he was kind and compassionate. I am not trying to diminish the fact that his threats of violence are unacceptable. With that being said, I feel that it’s important for the media to balance villainizing actions against victimizing the circumstances that may lead people to act with malice. I would love to see Alex get psychiatric help instead of being put into jail, but prison reform is a conversation for another day,” Kobey said.
While some may disagree with the criminal charges against Ye, there was much thought that went into the decision for community safety, according to the MCPD police chief. “As it relates to the decision again, we looked at the vast majority of not just the fact that we know that he has had some psychological challenges, but there comes a time when we know individuals who become involved in this, some of them who also have psychological challenges, the criminal justice system allows us an avenue to help get additional help in order to not only again give them those individuals the help but also to keep the community safe at the same time. When we looked at all of the elements that were involved in this, comparably not just what he wrote in the manifesto, but if you look at the other evidence that supported our decision, it related to what he noted in his internet searches, and we thought that was something that was really damaging, and showed that he has the thoughts of ideations that these could come true, and so I thought it was important for us to take this initiative on the enforcement front,” Jones said.
After last Thursday’s events, students’ emotions are heightened, and a second incident increased tensions further. On Tuesday, Apr. 23, the school went into a shelter-in-place due to a bomb threat, different from the two bomb threats earlier in the school year when the school evacuated. Students thought the shelter-in-place was due to an active shooter in the building, and although it was later communicated the shelter-in-place was because of a bomb threat, there was still worry that a shooter could have been on the outside of the school. “Compared to the other bomb threats this one was a lot scarier, just because of the active shooter threats prior. It had me really worried that something was going to happen, especially due to the amount of national attention the story was getting,” junior Ebba Leise said.
