SALISBURY, Md.- Five students remain in police custody, facing assault and related charges following accusations that they attacked another student at James M. Bennett High School in Salisbury late Wednesday morning.
According to Lt. Tim Robinson of the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office, the incident happened at around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning when two students assaulted another student in the main hallway of the school, located on East College Avenue. Robinson said the deputy assigned as the school’s resource officer intervened in an attempt to stop the assault, at which point three other students then entered the fracas, and also began assaulting the original victim.
The deputy was forced to utilize pepper spray to take control of the situation and stop the assault, according to Robinson. He said the situation was brought under control with the assistance of the school’s administration and the arrival of additional law enforcement resources from the Sheriff’s Office as well as the Salisbury and Fruitland police departments.
Four students were taken into custody and transported to the Sheriff’s Office. These four, along with a fifth student who fled from the school, will be charged with second-degree assault, disorderly conduct and disturbing school operations in connection with this incident, Robinson said. Four of those charged are 16-year-old boys while the other is a 15-year-old boy. Among the teens arrested is 18-year-old Elijah Alston of Salisbury. More arrests are possible, Robinson said.
The school was placed on a precautionary lockdown as a result of yesterday's incident. The lockdown was lifted shortly after noon once the situation had been placed under control.
In a message sent to parents shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, James M. Bennett High Principal Rick Briggs said the students "who disrupted the school environment here at JMB earlier today are no longer in the building and will be dealt with to the fullest extent possible by both the school system and law enforcement."
Briggs said most of the school's students remained on campus and have been attending their afternoon classes as normal. He said the school has limited the change of classes to only three minutes with an increase in staff and law enforcement presence as a precautionary measure. School would be dismissed at its normal 2:45 p.m. time, according to Briggs.
