High school plunged into terror as masked intruders invade and attack students

22 October 2023 , 16:40

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High school plunged into terror as masked intruders invade and attack students

Hundreds of students are now scared to return to school after a group of masked attackers caused havok by barging into the premises and launching a terrifying attack.

Auburn Riverside High School in Washington state confirmed the thugs ran into the building, punched one pupil and pushed four others. Parents described how their kids were "running" through corridors after five intruders entered a classroom at around 1pm.

Police said school staff had to follow them away from the site. "Administrators chased them and got them out of the building pretty fast," a spokesperson at the department said.

Pupils were forced to run down the hallway (Fox13)

The incident took place at around 1pm on Monday (Fox13)

The Auburn School District said 532 students were absent on Tuesday after parents were left shaken by the ambush. Authorities suspected that a fight that took place on the grounds last week is linked to the incident. Four students who were involved in the first fight were removed from the site, according to KMO. Later that day, some of them returned after school along with non-pupils and another fight took place in the parking lot. A BB gun was reportedly taken away from one of the suspects.

Brandy Garber, whose daughter goes to the school, said that she kept her daughter home the next day. The mum explained to KIRO-TV: "She’s scared. Then on the other side of it, she wants to go to school because she feels like her grades are dropping with me keeping her out. But as a parent, what do you do?" The parent added: "She said everybody started running. They said people came in and were masked and were pushing people out of the way."

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The masked thugs tear through the school (Fox13)

Jacqualine Boles said her son Freddie was in school at the time of the incident. "I thought it was bananas, I thought it was crazy, I thought how could this happen?," she told Fox13. He ran out in the hallway and saw everybody running, but he said one of his classmates got hit, one of his teammates got hit. It's been quite unsettling."

A police department spokesperson confirmed additional officers have been deployed on the school grounds and at football games. As part of the measures, the high school went into a "secure and teach" lockdown for the rest of the day. Exterior and interior doors were bolted and pupils were told to remain in their designated classrooms. A spokesperson from the school district told Fox News Digital: "We had an incident on Monday that has been widely publicised that has contributed to the number of students absent at that school [Tuesday]."

More than 500 students from Auburn Riverside High School were kept home after the incident (Google Maps)

Auburn Riverside Superintendent Dr. Alan Spicciati confirmed the school plans to "take some very serious action." He added: "We have a lot of students and families upset about this. I’m upset. And we are going to take some very serious action because when you make choices, there is accountability." The investigation is ongoing.

Monica Charsley