Dighton, Rehoboth, Dartmouth, Fall River, and Providence Police Departments respond to school after bullets, graffiti found

DIGHTON — Dighton Police Chief Robert MacDonald and Rehoboth Police Chief James Trombetta, in conjunction with Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District Superintendent Anthony Azar, report that the Dighton and Rehoboth Police Departments are jointly investigating after threatening graffiti and live bullets were found in a bathroom at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School.

At this time police do not believe there is a specific, credible threat or danger to the school community.

At approximately 9:30 a.m., Dighton and Rehoboth Police responded to the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School after receiving a report that two live rounds of ammunition had been found by a student inside a boy’s lavatory. The student reported the ammunition to the school administration.

School officials immediately notified the Dighton and Rehoboth Police Departments and a joint investigation was launched.

The school was placed in lockdown and mutual aid K-9 units from the Rehoboth, Dartmouth, Fall River and Providence Police Departments responded to the scene along with a K-9 unit from the Bristol County Sherriff’s Office to search the school.

No other suspicious items were found within the school during the K-9 search of the building.

The lockdown was lifted at approximately 12:30 p.m. Then, approximately two minutes after the lockdown was lifted, a faulty smoke detector sounded off the fire alarm and all students were safely evacuated from the building. A police presence was with students outside of the building at all times until students and staff were allowed to safely return to the building about 20 minutes later.

This incident follows a report of threatening graffiti that was found inside the same boy’s bathroom at the high school yesterday. The school was placed into lockdown yesterday out of an abundance of caution as police responded to the scene to investigate, however, the threat yesterday was deemed not credible.

Both incidents are actively being investigated by Dighton and Rehoboth Police and police are investigating to determine if the incidents are related.

“The safety of our school students and staff is our top priority and we will do everything we can to thoroughly investigate these threats,” Chief MacDonald said. “We would like to remind the community that we take all threats such as these seriously as they are a huge disruption to our school community and we will pursue this until charges are filed.”

Anyone with information about these incidents should call Dighton Police at 508-669-6711 or contact school officials.