A Garfield High School student allegedly fired rubber bullets from a realistic-looking rifle at his science teacher in a classroom in June, just minutes before a different shooter killed a student on the same Central District campus, according to Seattle police.
The teacher, who reported the attack the next day, told a police officer he thought the gun was real and feared for his life, according to a police report provided to The Seattle Times on Friday. The teacher’s name was redacted from the report.
The air rifle shooting, which happened 20 minutes before Amarr Murphy-Paine, 17, was fatally shot June 6 while reportedly breaking up a fight, was first reported by the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog.
The next day, the teacher went to the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct, where he told an officer he was helping students prep for a science lab and that day’s lesson when a student came into his classroom and asked for help, the report says. The teacher told the student he would have to wait and the student yelled at him, then left.
Sometime later, the student returned, armed with what the teacher reported looked like a rifle and wearing a ski mask, according to the police report. The teacher reported that the student then fired rubber bullets at him continuously for 10 to 15 seconds, the report says.
The student left the classroom without saying anything and the teacher reported the encounter to school administrators, the police report says.
The Seattle City Attorney’s Office charged the student, Billy Dolmo, 18, with fourth-degree assault, a gross misdemeanor, on July 24, according to an office spokesperson. Dolmo, who is out of custody, will be arraigned sometime in the next month, the spokesperson said.
A technical glitch with the Seattle Municipal Court’s online records portal made it impossible to download charging papers or determine whether Dolmo has an attorney.
The two shooting incidents were not connected and the incident with the airsoft pellet gun was “dealt with promptly and firmly by the school administrators,” said Bev Redmond, the district’s spokesperson and chief of staff. She confirmed that Dolmo is no longer an SPS student, but did not specify if he had graduated or faced other consequences.
Detective Eric Muñoz, an SPD spokesperson, said Friday that had the teacher called 911 from the classroom, officers would have responded to the school.
“That’s a very serious incident. A kid with a rifle at school would’ve been a priority one [call],” he said, referencing the most serious calls officers respond to. “Even if it’s an airsoft rifle, it can cause panic and it can hurt you.”
There’s no telling whether the presence of police officers on campus would have altered the events that led to Paine-Murphy’s killing. But Muñoz said the classroom incident, due to its late reporting, ended up getting overshadowed by the police response to the deadly shooting and subsequent homicide investigation.
Tuesday marks the 2-month anniversary of Paine-Murphy’s shooting death. No arrests have been made.
While security at Garfield tightened after the shooting, with students being required to stay on campus during the school day and additional security guards patrolling campus, the district is still reviewing what additional safety measures will be in place come fall.
The presence of uniformed police officers on campus remains a contentious issue. Some want officers stationed on campus, which would require repealing or creating an exception to a 4-year-old district ban on school resource officers. Others vehemently oppose armed security, stressing that it could end up harming students.
The school district, police and community members have been meeting over the summer to find a resolution for the start of the school year. Other measures being considered include students and staff wearing identification badges on campus and closed campuses for lunch.
Superintendent Brent Jones has allocated $2 million to enhancing school building exteriors and campus security. And it has been decided that the district will increase gun violence prevention programs in high school and increase mental health support for all grades.
Information from The Seattle Times’ archives is included in this story.