The investigation continues into an incident Monday at a Springfield high school, where a gun was discharged.
A school resource police officer at the High School of Science and Technology reported a large disturbance yesterday afternoon.
According to police, while this was going on, a teacher opened a back door to tell four people to leave. Instead they forced their way into the building. One shot was fired blowing out a window, but nobody was struck.
Police Superintendent Cheryl Clapprood said she is thankful nobody was shot and said the response to the incident went about as well as it could.
"We could see where the issue was through the school cameras, we knew where to direct our resources and I had two student resource officers right there," she said.
During a press conference at City Hall Tuesday afternoon Clapprood said so far one arrest has been. Police arrested 22-year-old Josiah Livingston, of Hartford, Connecticut, on Monday for assault and battery. He is being held on $25,000 bail. Claprood said another arrest is expected soon.
"We know who is responsible, we know why. So we will work with superintendent Warwick and the school department and bring appropriate charges," she said.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, Superintendent of Schools Daniel Warwick and several school committee members also spoke, assuring the public that the two individuals involved in the shooting were adults, not students.
"These perpetrators came in from the outside looking to wreak havoc in our school, and it was a valiant response by the teams at the school," Warwick said, referring to the school resource officers and school staff.
Sarno credited the school resource officers and technology that helped police assess the situation.
"If it was not for the quick response of Quebec [school resource] officers. And then the security camera system, which is only utilized in these types of specific emergencies...We were able to move quickly. SPD moved in quickly, arrests were made, vehicles were grabbed."
Clapprood said police were hindered by some social media posts, which spread inaccurate information about the disturbance.
"Social media kind of probably put a little twist into what we were doing by making us respond [to the public] quicker," Clapprood said. "We don't like to respond really within six hours of an incident like that other than telling you you're safe, because it takes an awful long time to go over witnesses and all that video."
She said the department felt compelled to issue a statement to calm the public's fears.
"We had to watch the video for hours to finally find out the facts. We'd rather come out and give you the facts... but right away, we don't really know them ourselves," she said.
This is a developing story. NEPM's Elizabeth Román contributed to this report.
