BRONSON, MI (WTVB) – Bronson Police Chief Stephen Johnson says law enforcement and school officials want to make it clear there was no verbal or written threat to the safety of students and staff after a break in and burglary of the Bronson Junior and Senior High School took place during the overnight hours of Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Bronson Community Schools were forced to dismiss classes earlier than normal during the 10:00 a.m. hour on Tuesday morning. Superintendent Kate Wall said late Tuesday afternoon that classes on Wednesday will be cancelled in order to update their internal safety measures.
Branch Area Careers Center students from Bronson may attend the center if they wish but district transportation will not be provided.
Wall said they were informed that unidentified individuals entered the Junior/Senior High School and were in the building for a significant amount of time, covering multiple areas.
According to Wall, this raised concern about their intent. After conferring with law enforcement, an area of the building was cleared. Students were held there until the early dismissal as it was decided by officials to err on the side of caution and send students home.
Johnson says this was done to ensure the safety of students and to allow further and more intensive investigation to be conducted with the assistance of outside sources.
Johnson says through the immediate investigation and ongoing review of surveillance footage, additional questions of the intent of the suspects was being discussed. He adds the investigation is being conducted thoroughly to identify the suspects and charge them appropriately for the crimes. The number of suspects involved has not been released.
Johnson said, “Crimes like these disrupt the learning process of our school children. It also disrupts lives of the whole family when school must dismiss early without warning. We take incidents to our schools very seriously and will continue to investigate this matter.”
If anyone has any direct knowledge of this crime, they are asked to contact the Bronson Police Department at (517) 369-9083.
Comments