Knife Found On 'Senior Assassin Day' At Montgomery High: Police

SANTA ROSA, CA — Students at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa were placed on lockdown Friday when a student called police and reported seeing another student with a gun on campus.

The student reported the gun was being "shown off" to other students, but it didn’t appear the suspect was threatening people with it, Santa Rosa police Lt. Christopher Mahurin said.

Numerous officers were dispatched at 10:45 a.m. Friday and were at the school within three minutes, Mahurin said. An SRPD school resource officer was already on campus and quickly relayed information about the location of the student with the gun.

Several students ran when they saw police arriving on campus but officers isolated potential suspects to three classrooms in the portables on the north side of campus, Mahurin said.

The school was placed on lockdown as officers searched several classrooms and contacted all students believed to be associated with this incident. Officers maintained control of the classrooms and spoke with each student, one at a time. The gun was not located.

Officers did find a knife hidden in one of the classrooms. The fixed-blade knife with a black handle was wrapped in a Montgomery High School T-shirt.

The lockdown, which was isolated to the Montgomery High School campus, was lifted at 1 p.m.

"Officer Valencia’s presence on campus helped expedite and coordinate police response by informing responding officers about the campus layout, identifying the potential students involved, and quickly isolating any danger to a single classroom," Mahurin said.

SRPD Officer Luigi Valencia has been the school resource officer on campus since March 2023, not long after a student was fatally stabbed at the school. Jayden Jess Pienta, 16, suffered three stab wounds. He was rushed to a hospital where he later died. A 15-year-old student was arrested in connection with the killing, and some administrators were placed on leave.

Regarding the latest incident Friday, police said no arrests were made. An investigation was continuing into whether the firearm reported on campus was an actual handgun or whether it was a toy. Officers learned that Friday was Senior Assassin Day, a social media game that encourages high school seniors to bring water guns on campus and "eliminate" specific people.

"These kinds of 'games' on school campuses are troubling because students are bringing perceived handguns on campus and targeting other students, teachers and administrators," Mahurin said.

The lieutenant said anyone with information should contact SRPD by calling 707-528-5222 or by going online to SRCity.org/CrimeTips.