No threats made in Pickering incident

LYNN – A 13-year-old student arrested Thursday for bringing a knife to Pickering Middle School did not make threats to classmates or faculty, and administrators do not believe the student was planning any sort of attack.According to police, a student was arrested around 2 p.m. Thursday inside the building when school officials received word that the individual was in possession of an illegal knife. The student was placed under arrest for violating the city knife ordinance and possessing a dangerous weapon on school grounds, but Pickering Principal Robert Murphy said the safety of students was never really in question, and authorities quickly dissolved the situation.”We got word that a student had possession of a knife, it was just an unfortunate situation that took place during the day (Thursday),” Murphy said Friday. “It had no effect on security or procedure at the school, and it had no effect on the way the school operated at that point in time. We found out about the situation, and we followed standard procedure and made sure the authorities were contacted.”Due to an ongoing investigation, and because the 13-year-old student is a minor, Murphy could not elaborate on the details of the situation, but did assure that the student did not use the knife in any sort of threat or attack. It appears someone in the school simply saw the student with a knife and informed Murphy’s staff, which then confronted the person in question and called police.”It is just something unfortunate that happened, but we followed procedure and handled the situation well,” he said. “It is something that can happen anywhere. Not just in Lynn, but anywhere you go.”While Murphy said he did not feel the need to heighten security at the Conomo Avenue school on Friday, across the city at Lynn Vocational and Technical Institute, police and school resource personnel continued to monitor the area following an alleged gang attack in the school parking lot on Wednesday.In that incident police say a large group of youths, who were not Tech students, had gathered behind the school’s annex on Neptune Boulevard. Police say some of the individuals were from Chelsea, and were most likely in the city because of a gang rivalry.With police already en route, a brawl ensued, resulting in one 17-year-old Tech student taking a trip to Salem Hospital with a laceration above his eye, possibly from being hit with a beer bottle.As the group dispersed, the LPD Gang Unit surveyed the neighborhood and eventually placed a total of four suspects under arrest. One of those suspects, a 16-year-old minor, suffered a stab wound to the forehead in the battle. None of them have been charged in connection with the crime.While the incident did not appear to have started within the school, police heightened security in and around the building Friday and are still investigating known gang members in the area.LVTI Principal Brian Coughlin declined to comment on Wednesday’s incident or the status of security at the school, deferring all comments to School Resource Officer Robert Ferrari and Superintendent Nicholas Kostan, who both failed to return calls seeking comment Friday.Each high school and middle school in the city has a school resource officer along with safety and surveillance equipment including surveillance video and emergency phone service.