Eastmark High School was placed on lockdown Nov. 8 after a former employee spit on a current employee and threatened to shoot another worker while at the high school Monday afternoon, according to the Mesa Police Department, who responded to the call.
Although located in Mesa, Eastmark High School is in the Queen Creek Unified School District.
During the investigation, the school resource officer learned that the employee had apparently been let go recently, police said. That worker also allegedly spit on the school's cafeteria manager.
"The school resource officer learned that a school cafeteria employee verbally threatened to shoot the janitor and so, put the school in lockdown while he contacted the cafeteria employee in the parking lot," Mesa police said in an email.
According to Mesa police, the cafeteria manager wanted to press charges, while the janitor declined to press charges. Because of that, officers recommended charges of aggravated assault against the former employee, who was not identified, for spitting on the worker, and disruption of an educational institution. It will be up to Maricopa County Attorney's Office to decide if they want to prosecute the case or not.
The Queen Creek Sun Times reached out to the Queen Creek Unified School District and received the following response: "The Mesa Police Department's statement is correct," emailed Jessica Bautista, director of marketing and public relations with the school district.
