Teenager accused of having a weapon on school grounds in Sioux Falls

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — There was an extra police presence at Sioux Falls schools this morning after a student, who was accused of bringing a weapon to school and making terroristic threats, escaped from juvenile custody Wednesday night.

It happened Wednesday afternoon outside Axtell Park, but the 15-year-old was arrested again Thursday morning and taken back into custody.

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For several hours, police were on high alert after a threatening incident outside one of the district’s schools.

“Police received a call of a person who was outside Axtell Park with a weapon, initially when officers arrived they found the person who was a 15-year-old, he was taken into custody for having a weapon on school grounds and making terroristic threats,” Sioux Falls Police Public Information Officer Sam Clemens said.

The teen never was inside the school. Because he’s a juvenile, police wouldn’t say what kind of terroristic threats were made or what kind of weapon he had.

But then things got a little crazy and concerning.

As the teen was being transported to the juvenile detention center from a different juvenile facility, he somehow managed to escape, but police wouldn’t go into details on how that happened, either.

Due to the seriousness of the alleged crime, police released his name, his height and weight to see if the public could help find him.

“We don’t normally talk about juvenile crime, juvenile arrests, but in this case, we were able to get a court order that allows us to release some specific information related to being able to find him and get him taken back into custody,” Clemens said.

And it worked. The 15-year-old was arrested around 10 Thursday morning.

Police say the 15-year-old was not a current student at the school and after he was arrested they asked us not to use his name.

KELOLAND News reached out to the school district about the case.

In an email statement, the district says staff were notified this morning and additional precautions were taken at Axtell Park with support from the Police Department.

The district says they are grateful to the community member who reported the concern by following the “See Something, Say Something” protocol.