Sheriff clears up confusion surrounding "suspicious community event"

On Wednesday, May 17, law enforcement were present at the New Rockford-Sheyenne Public School due to what the school described as a "suspicious community event" in a Facebook post.

No other details were provided by the school, but Eddy County Sheriff Paul Lies cleared up the situation with the Transcript.

Lies explained that a weapon was stolen from a vehicle in New Rockford approximately two or three weeks ago, and that they had recently identified two "juveniles of interest" in the theft.

When asked if the juveniles are students at New Rockford-Sheyenne, Lies said, "They were, I don't know if they still are."

He added that officers spoke to the juveniles yesterday, and that they are not cooperating.

Last evening, Lies said an officer was assigned to the school during the spring music concert in the school's gymnasium, "just out of precaution."

Lies assured that he doesn't believe there's a direct threat to the school or the community.

"Out of abundance of caution, anytime we have a juvenile that we suspect has a gun and is associated with the school, we take precautions," said Lies.

He added, "[The situation] came to a head yesterday, so that's why we were out of abundance of caution. Because it involved juveniles that were attendees at the school, we felt that we should notify the school of the situation and go from there."

Lies would not say what kind of gun was stolen, but he did say that he anticipates the juveniles could face charges.

The matter is still under investigation.