All five schools in the Warren County R-III School District went into lockdown during the incident, according to school officials. The suspects arrested were Steven D. Hertel, 20, of 21111 Autumn Oaks; Avery L. Jones, 20, of 200 Bedford; and Anthony P. Stephens, 17, of 412 Oaklawn. All three live in Warrenton. The Warren County prosecutor's office charged each with endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree and assault while on school property. A $50,000 cash-only bond has been set for all three individuals. Police retrieved two "air soft" pellet guns, according to court documents, from the suspects' vehicle. A 5-year-old girl was passenger in the vehicle, police said, but she was not harmed. It was unknown if she was related to any of the suspects. Officers responded to a 911 call at 2:47 p.m. reporting shots were fired near Warrenton High School. The suspects fled the scene, court records show, but police were able to locate a Chrysler minivan, the vehicle in question, at the intersection of Kuhl and Voshol avenues next to Daniel Boone Elementary. A witness to the arrest, Ryan Walker, said he was caught off-guard when officers approached the suspects with guns drawn. His girlfriend, who was inside the school picking up her daughter, was not allowed to leave the school for 25-30 minutes, Walker said. "It freaked me out pretty bad," he said. During a search of the vehicle, police found one pellet gun under the front passenger seat where Jones was seated and another under the rear passenger seat where Stephens was seated, court documents show. According to police, Hertel and Stephens told authorities Jones fired the pellet gun twice from their vehicle into another vehicle at an unknown location. Hertel and Stephens said the driver of the other vehicle was struck. A passenger in the same vehicle also was in the line of fire, court records said. The alleged shots occurred on school property, police said. Warrenton Police Chief Davis Bernard declined to comment on the arrests. It was uknown if the driver of the second vehicle was injured. Superintendent Dr. John Long confirmed all five schools in the district were in a lockdown mode for a short period during the incident. He said some buses were delayed for about 20 minutes. Parents were alerted to the incident by an automated phone message through the district's outreach program, according to Long. "Our first priority is always students' safety," he told The Record. "All things considered, everything worked well." Long noted that school administrators were scheduled to meet Tuesday to review procedures and consider any changes that might need to be made in preparation for a similar incident.

Gun Threat Prompts Lockdown

Gun Threat Prompts Lockdown